Big Hero 6: Storm and Fury
by sonicking2004
Summary: Mere months after the end of the movie, Hiro and his friends have gained some experience helping people, but now they're finding themselves over their heads while fending off a massive invasion. Can they emerge from this conflict intact? Features crossovers with Marvel & Disney, I own nothing but my own OC. Will raise rating if advised it's not high enough.
1. 1) Overwhelmed

**Overwhelmed**

Hiro felt his heart pounding inside his chest as he wiped his clammy hands on his pants. He didn't know why he felt so nervous. After all, he had faced down a man whom he once admired, a man whose actions had led directly to the death of his beloved brother, and won in an impossible battle against his own stolen microbots, so this should be a cake walk for him. On the other hand, he had the other members of his team to help him in that battle, none of which would be able to help him here (perhaps just the opposite, in fact.)

"You seem to be experiencing an accelerated breathing and heart rate, and your neural transmitters are down," the clinical voice of Baymax, the healthcare robot his brother invented and whom Hiro had come to think of as one of his best friends, broke into his thoughts as he had been gathering the courage to make his move, "This seems to indicate you're experiencing feeling of nervousness or anxiety. Is something troubling you, Hiro?"

"I'm fine, Baymax, and I'd appreciate it if you kept the information on my emotional state to yourself, under patient/healthcare provider confidentiality agreements," Hiro told him. He really did view the robot as a good friend, and he was glad he was able to rebuild him using his brother's notes after Baymax's original body was left in the void Alistair's portal had led to. Regardless, Baymax's tendency to tell his Aunt and friends every change in Hiro's emotional state had led to some rather awkward and embarrassing moments, and he was glad he'd learned how to talk to him in order to reduce the number of times that happened.

"Very well. This incident will be logged as per your request, but I may need to override should the symptoms worsen," Baymax acknowledged, and Hiro nodded as he knew this was the closest that he would get to a promise from him that he'd keep his electronic mouth shut.

Hiro took a deep breath, then he started walking over to the area of the laboratory where GoGo was working on her bike. Even though she could go much faster in the suit Hiro had designed for her, which incorporated similar technology to that of her bike, GoGo would not be satisfied until she could get the same kind of performance from it as well. That was one of the things that he valued in her, her uncompromising drive to push the boundaries and never settle for what she'd already achieved.

More than that, however, was what he's seen in her as a person. Hidden underneath the stoic exterior she usually displayed, with what little conversation she had usually punctuated by bluntness or sarcasm, Hiro had seen that she held a vast sea of compassion. GoGo obviously cared about her friends deeply, and Hiro was grateful that she'd include him in that circle. That, Hiro supposed, is part of what was making him so nervous now. The risk he about to take would definitely shake the status quo amongst them, and Hiro wasn't sure what he'd do if his efforts went south on him.

"Uh….hey there, GoGo," Hiro called out to her as he approached, barely able to keep his voice from cracking.

"Oh, hi Hiro," GoGo acknowledged as she glanced up from her work, "What's up? You sound nervous."

"Who, me? Nah!" Hiro lied, unconvincingly, "So, um….I see you've made some modifications to your bike."

"Uh-huh," GoGo confirmed, "Replaced the single electro-mag suspension on each axle with a series of smaller ones, working in tandem with one another. Increased the top speed and acceleration by 40%, improved the braking capabilities as well. Not quite where I want it to be yet, but it's definitely an improvement."

"Wow, that's impressive!" Hiro complimented her, not needing to fake his interest, then he nervously cleared his throat and continued, "Anyway, there're this great new sci-fi/action/horror flick that just opened up in the Multiplex, and I'd heard that it was something that you might be interested in, so I was wondering…"

"Wait…" GoGo interrupted as she set her tools down and looked him fully in the face wearing an unreadable expression, "Are you….trying to ask me out on a date?"

"What? No no no no!" Hiro nervously denied fiercely, then in an uncertain tone he amended, "Well, not really. That is….did you want it to be?"

Hiro felt as though an eternity passed as GoGo blew a bubble with her usual cool expression, then she popped her gum before she continued, "Hiro, you're a great kid. You're smart and funny, and even kinda cute in a sweet way. You're a great friend and, though I hate to admit it, you're an excellent leader."

"But…?" Hiro queried, his stomach dropping as he guessed which way this line was going.

"But as great a kid as you are, you're just that: a kid," GoGo continued, "How old are you now, 14?"

"I'll be 15 next month!" Hiro desperately protested.

"And I'll be 17 in six," GoGo countered, "The point is that no matter how much older you get, I'll still be older than you. We'll always have that age gap between us, so it would never work. You've been such a great friend, let's keep it that way. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Of course," Hiro conceded in a dejected tone. He thought he saw something flash in GoGo's eyes as his own followed the shattered pieces of his heart to the floor, but before he could discern what it was he heard the sound of someone clearing his throat behind him. Turning around, Hiro was mortified to see that he had an audience to his spectacular failure: namely, all his friends.

"Sorry, man, don't mean to interrupt," Wasabi said in a low tone, and Hiro recognized that he was the one who cleared his throat, "but we're about to have company."

Hiro didn't need to be told that the "company" Wasabi was referring to was one of those who didn't know about their "extra-curricular activities", so he did his best to pull himself together and he turned to face the lab door as Abagail Callaghan walked in.

Ms. Callaghan, who had been appointed the headmaster of the Institute after her recovery from the incident in which she had been rescued (by Hiro and his friends, no less) and her father had been indicted for both the destruction of the Krie Tech campus and the fire at the Convention (and, by connection, Tadashi's death), looked as though she was still uncomfortable in this position of leadership as she looked at them all and said, "Hello, everyone. Staying late tonight?"

"Evening, Ms. Callaghan," Hiro greeted her warmly, "Yeah, you know how it is when you have a project you just can't put down."

"I do indeed," she agreed, "and please: call me Abagail. 'Ms. Callaghan' makes me feel so old."

"It's fine, really," Hiro assured her, then he asked, "Off to see your father?"

"Yeah," Abagail admitted, "I want to get down there before visiting hours are over. I just need to understand why he did what he had."

"I'm sure that he was just hurt badly by your disappearance and apparent death, and he just felt the need to do something to get 'justice' for it," Hiro told her, "Believe me, I can get where he was coming from."

"Well, just don't do anything crazy, okay?" Amanda asked him, "You're much too young to be throwing your life away like my father had."

"I won't, don't worry," Hiro assured her, cringing inwardly as he recalled just how close he had come to doing exactly that.

"Still, it'd be nice to know just who those mysterious heroes were," Amanda mused, "I would like to thank them for saving me, and for stopping my father before he did something that he would really regret. I'm certain that Alastair really didn't know that Project: Silent Barrel wasn't ready before we showed it to the General."

"You may be right about that, and I'm sure that those heroes are glad just knowing you made it out of there okay," Hiro assured her truthfully. Of course he still had that footage from the test site that indicated otherwise, but even if they could explain how they had gotten it without revealing their secret, it was possible they (and Mr. Callaghan) had misinterpreted what was being said in the control room that day. It's not like they understood the work or science that went into the project, it being classified after all. Besides, the way Amanda talked about Mr. Krie, as well as the glances she gave him when she thought he wasn't looking, made him think that she likely carried a torch for the guy. As such, he was loathe to do anything that might crush her hopes that Mr. Krie might feel the same way in return.

"Well don't stay too late, be sure to lock up behind you, and let your folks know where you are. Especially you, Hiro," Amanda told them.

Hiro cringed inwardly at the subtle reminder of his age even as he said, "Well Aunt Cass is used to me putting in late nights in our garage working on one project or another, and this is basically just a larger garage, and I'm not exactly alone here, but I'll let her know all the same."

As the others said their assurances, Amanda nodded in acknowledgement as she said, "Good night, everyone." Then she turned and walked back out the door.

Hiro counted to ten in his head before he heard Wasabi whisper to him, "Do you think she really doesn't know?"

Hiro shook his head as he answered, "Mr. Callaghan could have tried to make things easier on him by revealing that we had chased him to the quarantined test site, or that I tried to have Baymax kill him after learning of his involvement in the fire and my brother's death, but he didn't. He pleaded guilty to all counts, so I think he's really trying to take responsibility for his actions, and I don't think that he would undermine that by telling his daughter what he hadn't said to the courts. It's a good thing that we have the security in this place wired, though, so we can filter what she can see and hear of what goes on in this lab."

"All the same, I think that we should keep our Big Hero 6 talks here to a minimum," GoGo advised them, "As Ms. Callaghan's visit reminded us, we're not always the only ones here, and while we can alter some security footage we cannot erase from someone's mind what they saw or heard personally."

" 'Big Hero 6'?" Hiro asked her curiously.

"You are the de-facto leader of our group after all, Hiro, and I like that name much better than 'Fred's Angels'," GoGo explained.

Hiro winced slightly at the unintended reminder of her rejection speech, but his heart was warmed somewhat at the thought that she'd chosen to name their group after him, rather than going with something like "Team GoGo". The warm feeling was almost enough to ease away the ache of his broken heart. Almost. "You're right," he told her, "it's perfect."

GoGo smiled slightly at the compliment, but before anyone could say anything more Hiro heard Honey Lemon's nervous voice calling out from Fred's crash area in the lab call out, "Guys, you may want to take a look at this!"

Hiro looked over that way and saw that the same fear that was in her voice also showed in her eyes, so he gestured for the others to follow him that way. Once there he saw Fred was sitting in his ratty armchair as his eyes were glued to his old tube-style TV. It amazed and mystified Hiro that, despite all the money they'd recently learned Fred had at his disposal, that he'd keep such old (and, in the chair's case, nasty) things in this lab, but Fred had claimed that the chair was comfortable and that the TV had "nostalgic value". However, those concerns pushed themselves to the very back of his mind once he saw what had Fred and Honey Lemon's rapt attention.

On the screen was a scene Hiro would have sworn was taken directly from the movie he'd failed to convince GoGo to go with him to see, were it not for the caption of "Breaking news" pasted over the familiar San Fransokyo skyline and the recognizable voice of the newscaster describing (with no small amount of hear in her voice) the scene before them. In it they saw what appeared to be a small circular hole torn in the darkening sky, though which could be seen stars shining brighter than he'd ever seen at night, in configurations and constellations he'd never seen before. Though this hole poured a swarm of flying sled-like machines, each one manned by 2-3 figures. Though the image wasn't close enough to show clearly what they were, from the way they held their bodies and their high-tech weapons, which they fired everywhere, clearly indicated that they weren't human.

"It's an alien invasion!" Fred exclaimed excitedly, "How cool is that!? I mean it's scary, obviously, but how cool! And is that a wormhole they're coming out of?"

"It's impossible for my sensors to determine based on the television image alone," Baymax clinically reported, "but based on the configuration and appearance of the anomaly, it does appear to be consistent with commonly held wormhole theories."

"Awesome!" Fred exclaimed excitedly.

" 'Awesome'!?" Wasabi yelled at him in stunned disbelief, "It's the end of the flippin' world, man! Just what about that is 'awesome'?"

GoGo looked at Hiro with worry in her eyes as she asked, "What are we going to do?"

Hiro turned towards the windows looking outside, where he saw the same scene unfold in the distance, and he said, "The same thing we always do whenever there's trouble. We suit up and go to help people."

* * *

><p>As Baymax flew them through the air, Hiro tapped into the link he'd recently added into Baymax's super-scanner, then he routed the image through his visor to those of the others. He almost wish he hadn't, however, as it wasn't a pretty picture. The force coming though the portal in the sky was a massive one, easily 100 of them for each one of his, and they were still coming. There wasn't any large vessels like a mother ship yet, thank goodness, but that didn't matter much against a force with these kind of numbers. The zoomed in image of just one of them wasn't exactly good for inspiring confidence either.<p>

"Just what are those hideous things?" Honey Lemon asked them, her voice squeaking with fear.

"They appear to be an alien life form not native to this world," Baymax answered in his usual clinical fashion, and they all saw the same information as Baymax scanned them all, "Part organic, part cybernetic enhancement. Due to the similarities of their theta brain waves, they may in fact share a hive mind. Although they are from another world, they seem to have similar needs to sustain life as humans do. No other data is available at this time."

"And you want us to go up against those guys?" Wasabi asked fretfully, "Hiro, I know you want to help out, but there's about a thousand of them or more, and only the six of us, and I don't think those laser guns are just for show. This sounds like a job for the military. Why don't we just leave it to them and go back home, huh?"

"Wasabi, I get it. I'm scared too," Hiro told him, "but the fact is that the military isn't here right now, so we're all San Fansokyo's got. Once the army does show up I'll happily let them take the lead while we take a breather, but until then it's up to us to make sure we have a home to go back to."

"Hiro's right, Wasabi. Stop whining, woman up," GoGo added, then she asked Hiro, "So what's the plan?"

"You and Honey Lemon will go streetside. Since you're the fastest amongst us, you'll be in charge of making sure that the civilians get off the streets, either retreating to the basements or to the subway, and don't be afraid to get the police officers to help with that. Meanwhile, Honey Lemon will use her chem-bag to help fortify the safe areas, make it harder for those freaks to gain access and hurt innocent people." As GoGo and Honey Lemon nodded the acknowledgement of their orders, Hiro continued, "Wasabi, Fred, you guys will stick to the rooftops: keep the fighting off the streets and away from the people as much as possible. Remember, these things aren't human and they obviously come to hurt us, so feel free to use more force with them than you would the usual bank robber."

"O-o-o-okay," Wasabi nervously agreed.

"Alright! It's time for Fred to cut loose!" Fred enthusiastically chimed in, "Those alien scum won't know what had hit them!"

"What about you?" GoGo asked Hiro, a worried note in her voice, "What will you do?"

"Baymax and I will take them on in the air," Hiro told her, "During that time Baymax will continue to scan these things and determine if they have a weak point. If he's correct about them having a hive mind, then perhaps there's a possibility that we can disrupt that and confuse them. In the end, however, our main goal is not to defeat them but to slow them down and keep the people safe until the military arrives to finish the job."

"Okay. Just be careful, Hiro," GoGo said to him in concern.

"Same to you," Hiro said back to her.

Baymax then released Fred and Wasabi on the rooftop nearest the edge of the fighting before gripping Honey Lemon and GoGo and lowering them quickly to the ground with his rocket arms. Once Baymax's arms snapped back into place empty handed, the nervousness of the risk involved in this plan hit Hiro in the gut and made him nauseous, but he still kept a straight face as he signaled for Baymax to take off into the air.

"Hiro, I have some concerns," said to him after a second of flying.

After switching his and Baymax's mikes to a private channel while keeping the line the rest of the team was on open so he could still keep tabs on them, Hiro asked his robotic friend, "Yeah pal, I do too, but what are your concerns about?"

"This plan of yours, it involves the injuring and possible termination of the alien life forms attacking San Fransokyo," Baymax explained to him, "I am programmed to heal the sick and injured, and as such this plan goes against my healthcare protocols."

"The ones that prevent you from doing anything that will injure a human being?" Hiro clarified.

"Yes," Baymax confirmed.

"I understand, but buddy these things are not human," Hiro countered, "Whatever they came here to do, they're attacking us with lethal intent. If we do nothing, then a great many humans will end up injured or terminated before the army shows up."

"Understood. Updating protocol database with new stipulation," Baymax responded, then he increased his speed and plunged into the thick of the invasion, plowing through aliens as though they were mere rag dolls. As Hiro saw his part of the plan taking immediate effect, with a good number of the descending aliens altering course to come directly for them instead, Baymax asked him, "What were your concerns of this plan?"

Hiro, who had been intently watching as Fred and Wasabi took on a group of aliens that had come into range while GoGo nimbly dodged laser blasts and counterattacked with her disks under the cover of Honey Lemon's smokescreen, shook his head in confusion and asked, "What?"

"When I told you I had concerns about this plan, you responded by saying you did too," Baymax said again while roundhousing an alien flying sled in front of them and clearing out a group of their pursuers with a rocket fist fired behind them, "What were those concerns?"

"Oh, that? I was just concerned that my plan is going to get us all killed," Hiro explained to him, "just like Tadashi."

"The records indicate that Tadashi had rushed into the building to rescue Mr. Callaghan of his own accord after you had advised him not to," Baymax countered logically, "His death was not your fault."

"But I hesitated, Baymax," Hiro argued back, "I was so scared of the fire that I didn't go after him right away. If I hadn't hesitated I might have caught back up to him again before he entered and the building exploded."

"Again, your conclusions are in error," Baymax told him, "Records show that the building exploded within moments of Tadashi entering the building. If you had managed to stop Tadashi before he entered, there's still a high probability that the proximity to the explosion would have seriously injured or even killed Tadashi as well as you. According to my database on Survivor's Remorse, it is natural for you to feel guilty over being alive when your brother is not, but you must come to understand that you had no hand in his death. My duty is to keep you alive and well, and as you are determined to help this city in its time of crisis my duty extends to helping you as much as possible."

Hiro smiled and tapped his fingers against Baymax's armor, the closest he dared come to patting him on the back during these dangerous aerial maneuvers, and he said, "Thank, Baymax."

"Hey guys, you're being awfully quiet up there!" Wasabi tensely called out, breaking into Hiro's awareness, "What was this concern Baymax had about this plan?"

Hiro had forgotten that the others couldn't hear what they were talking about, and so he switched back to the team band and explained to Wasabi, "He was just concerned that it might violate his protocol against harming humans, and I explained to him that they were aliens and not human, so it was okay."

"Oh, that's all? Okay then," Wasabi replied as he continued to drop the growing swarm of aliens encroaching on him from all sides of the building, "I was worried it was that WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

"No, he didn't express any concerns of the sort, so don't worry," Hiro assured Wasabi before briefly switching back to Baymax's private channel to tell him, "Don't."

"You still whining up there, Wasabi?" GoGo asked him through the communicator as she took out one of the ground troops with a thrown disk while she used the second, wrist-mounted one like a shield to deflect a laser blast from hitting a fleeing family.

"No!" Wasabi countered fiercely as he continued to fight, "I was merely expressing my passionate love of LIFE, that's all!"

As Baymax punched yet another alien out of their way, Hiro was surprised to see that its gun arm had popped off at the elbow and landed practically in his arms. As Hiro carefully disengaged one hand to grip the device before it could fall to the ground below, Baymax commented, "It appears that these beings have a weak point in their joints, where the organic meets the cybernetic."

After he cleared the remaining organic material out of the way (which he found totally disgusting), Hiro found some nubs inside that he could wrap his fingers around. When he pulled on one of them, Hiro was surprised as a blast discharged from the end and took out the driver of the sled ahead of them before its passenger could draw a bead on them. With a renewed sense of hope, Hiro adjusted his position so that the magnetic pads on his elbows were in contact with Baymax instead, leaving his hands free to handle and aim the alien weapon, then he contacted the others and said, "You guys heard Baymax. We can take these things apart by working on the joints, and if you relieve one of them of their gun arm you can use it against the others. Chances are that the laser lance-things wielded by those who aren't equipped with arm cannons are just as easy for us to use."

"Alright! Now this part of the plan I LIKE!" Wasabi exclaimed as he sliced off one alien's arm cannon at the elbow before driving the other blade through the alien's chest. Then he disengaged both wrist blades, picked up the alien weapon, and used it to start mowing down the alien attackers Rambo-style as he bellowed, "Come get some!"

Meanwhile, Fred had picked up a dropped laser lance and begun leaping around and twirling it around like one of his signs. As the laser blasts discharging from the end took out aliens all around him, Fred's suit started breathing fire as he called out, "Who wants a piece of the Fredinator?"

GoGo had also acquired a fallen laser lance and she was alternating between dashing around while firing laser blasts and using the lance as a pole vault, launching herself into a high-speed flying kick as she bellowed, "Woman up!"

Honey Lemon had used one of her freezing chem-balls to immobilize one of the arm cannon-wielding alien warriors, then she cautiously set to popping off his weapon. Despite her care, Honey Lemon still yelped in surprise as the snapping motion caused the laser to discharge into its frozen body, shattering it into a thousand pieces. She then shook out the remaining frozen bits and begun nervously firing at any alien soldier that came into her line of sight.

"You see guys?" Hiro chirped at the others as he continued his own laser onslaught from Baymax's back, his voice heavy with happiness and relief, "If we can just keep our heads we'll all come out of this all ri…"

Hiro then cried out in pain as a laser blast struck him in the back, having managed to burn partially though the armor there before glancing off it, and Hiro was grateful that Honey Lemon had thought to formulate a stronger material for their armors after their public debut at the Krie Tech building. As his friends cried out his name in concern, Hiro gritted his teeth as he responded, "I'm fine. It's just a scratch, keep going!"

Baymax had rotated his head around to scan Hiro before he said to him, "You have a third degree burn on your right shoulder blade area of your back. You need medical attention right away."

"It just grazed me, I'll be fine for now," Hiro assured him, "Just keep fighting."

"But Hiro," Baymax argued, "if your injury is not treated immediately, it could lead to…"

"Don't you get it, Baymax!? We have to keep fighting!" Hiro interrupted him in a bellow, "If we don't, we'll all die!"

"HOLY MOTHER OF MEGAZOD! JUST WHAT IS THAT THING!?" Fred bellowed out frightfully. Surprisingly when Hiro heard GoGo speak she wasn't chiding Fred, that her voice was just as full of fear as Fred's as she asked Hiro, "I don't suppose you saw if one of these guys had a weapon that could handle that thing, did you?"

Hiro didn't need to ask his friends were talking about, he would have needed to be blind to miss the monolithic monstrosity now emerging from the wormhole in the sky. The size of a small skyscraper, it looked like the cross between a giant eel and an ugly tortoise, with a cybernetic webbing all around its body. And this alien behemoth had its fanged maw open as it undulated through the air straight for him!

"Uh, Baymax…!" Hiro nervously called out as he stared wide eyed at the doom that was coming to swallow them whole. Before he could expound on his order or they could be eaten, however, Hiro as Baymax picked up a small object shot quickly from the unstable energy that marked the boundary of the wormhole straight towards the creature closing on Hiro. When they collided with an electric crackle and a sound like thunder, Hiro wasn't sure if the bellow the beast made was from the pain of the blow or from the frustration of being denied its prey, but it was knocked off course enough to miss Hiro by mere yards. Meanwhile, the mysterious object continued on its trajectory, only sharply angling its flight path before it collided with the building below, then it started zig-zagging between the buildings across the street below, taking out whatever alien flyer happened to be in its way.

"What was that thing?" Hiro asked no one in particular in stunned disbelief.

Apparently Baymax though the question was intended for him as he scanned the object, which took longer than usual due to how quickly it was moving. "It appears to be a man," Baymax reported, "Although there are some unexplainable anomalies in its genetic makeup, the general DNA and the life signs I'm detecting all indicate that he is human."

"That thing making hash of the aliens is human?" Wasabi asked in disbelief.

"Why is he flying around like that?" GoGo asked curiously, and Hiro was glad she had. He too wondered about the dizzying flight path this stranger was taking.

"He's not actually flying. He's in fact maneuvering through the air by means of a powerful electro-magnetic field he's somehow generating himself," Baymax explained his analysis, "He's pulling himself through the air by attracting himself to the metallic infrastructure of the buildings across the street, then before he makes contact he reversed polarity…"

"…repelling himself from the magnetized building and flying off the opposite way!" Hiro finished for him.

"You realize what this means, guys?" Fed excitedly asked his friends through the communicator, "It means we were just helped out by a real-life superhero! How sic is that!?"

"Uh-oh!" Baymax said suddenly, his head swiveled around to look behind them. Hiro turned to look and his heart stuttered as he saw that the giant alien creature had recovered from the blow it took, and from how quickly it was heading for him it was seriously angry!

"Go, go go!" Hiro told Baymax, and the robot flew full thrust away from the monster. Even though he was moving as quickly as he could away from the beast, however, it was still slowly closing the distance between them. As they flew, Hiro saw the stranger deviate from his unusual flight path and instead drop down directly towards Honey Lemon. Through the camera incorporated into her visor, Hiro got his first good glimpse at this man as he briefly touched down in front of her. Dressed in an outfit that could well have been taken from Fred's "collection" (were it not colored in shades of grey rather than brightly colored like those suits), this man with his tousled hair wore an apologetic look on his handsome face as he took Honey Lemon's chem-bag from her, telling her in a sincere tone, "Sorry, but I need to borrow this for a moment. Thanks." He then leaped into the air again before she could get off a word of protest, his trajectory taking him directly towards Hiro, Baymax, and the creature trying to eat them. Hiro then saw the man quickly enter a formula that was too complex for Hiro to follow and catch a chem-ball that was a shade Hiro had never seen Honey's bag produce before.

"Open wide, big guy!" the man quipped before tossing the ball their direction, then his hand crackled brightly with electricity before a bolt sparked off after it just before gravity took him back down again. Hiro felt the hair under his helmet stand on end as both came within inches of touching him, then the bolt caught up with the ball just as they entered deep within the alien behemoth's maw. Then, with an explosion louder than Hiro ever heard in his short life, the massive alien blew apart in a shower of goo that rained down over everything within a 5 block radius, including Hiro and his friends.

The alien troops, who up until now had been impassively and unrelentingly attacking everything that moved, suddenly stopped in their tracks and stared at where their gigantic ally had been, many of them ripping off their facemask to scream their outrage. Despite what he'd accomplished, however, it seemed that this stranger was far from done. Landing on a rooftop across the street from where Fred and Wasabi were standing still in the midst of a group of equally stunned aliens, the man just stood there for a moment, looking strained as if he were trying to lift an invisible weight. Then, as Hiro watched, the lights in the buildings around him went dark in an ever widening circle even as he lit up increasingly bright with crackling electricity. Then, just as the brilliance grew too much for Hiro to look directly upon anymore, the man released a massive bolt directly up into the rip in the sky, and Hiro watched as the aliens (both living and dead) found themselves sucked helplessly back up through it. Then, as the last of the aliens disappeared into the wormhole's maw, the single bolt of energy branched into many as it spread to its edges, and the hole in the sky collapsed, leaving the horizon whole once more.

With all signs of conflict gone, Hiro breathed a sigh of relief. It appeared that the stranger was equally exhausted, as he simply stepped off the edge of the building and slid slowly down its side. Hiro took that as his cue to signal Baymax to fly over to get Fred and Wasabi and fly them all back down to their friends.

Baymax landed them all just as the man strode over towards GoGo and Honey Lemon, holding her chem-bag out to her as he sighed and said, "Whew, that was rough. I won't be trying that one again anytime soon! Thanks again for the loan, miss."

"It was no problem, mister," Honey Lemon said as she took back her bag with a blush of excitement, "By the way, that formula you made was amazing! Just what was it?"

"Just a little cocktail of my own creation," the man said modestly, "I call it 'C4 with a twist, on the rocks'. I'll be happy to give you the recipe when we have a moment."

Hiro extended his hand towards the man and said, "Thanks for help, mister…?"

"The name is Julian, and even though I accept you gratitude I feel it's a little early for thanks," The man said as he shook Hiro's hand once, the he looked up at the sky where the wormhole was and added, "This is far from over."

"It is?" Hiro asked in shock.

"If those creatures and their master are whom I suspect them to be, then yes, I'm afraid so little hero," Julian told them grimly, "Although the ionization side effect of my closing the wormhole will interfere with their attempts to reopen it for a while, I fear that they'll soon be back, and in greater numbers. The best I can hope for is that I've bought us time to regroup and better prepare for their return."

This pronouncement left Hiro and his friends speechless, though part of the reason Hiro was struck dumb was the belief that this Julian apparently knew his real name. As the citizens slowly emerged from the surrounding buildings to see what was happening in this calm time, Julian looked around at them and said, "This place is becoming a bit too public again. Do you have somewhere private where we can continue our discussion?"

Hiro considered for a moment before coming to a decision, then he said, "Yes, of course," Then he climbed onto Baymax and signaled for the others to get into position on the robot as he continued, "Right this way.


	2. 2) Recovery

**Recovery**

As GoGo stood under the stream of hot water in the Institute's decontamination shower rinsing the alien gunk off of her, she silently wished that it could wash away the whole day and just give her a do-over. Not just that business about the alien invasion either, though that was bad enough (not to mention terrifying) even without this Julian's promise of even worse to come.

"Just what is the matter with you?" Honey Lemon asked her from the next stall over, and it was as if her friend had read the thoughts in her mind and said them aloud.

"I don't know," GoGo truthfully groaned, resting her head against the wall and wishing that she could just sink right through it and disappear.

"I mean if it had happened after the invasion I would understand your head not being in the right place, but this was before," Honey Lemon continued.

"I know," GoGo groaned as she shut off the water and heard Honey Lemon do the same beside her.

As GoGo stepped out of the stall and began toweling off, Honey did the same as she added, "I mean you've been waiting for him to ask him out for how long?"

"Two months," GoGo answered.

"And when he finally gets up the nerve to do so, you shut him down hard," Honey Lemon said as she wrung out her hair, "Please tell me that wasn't the point."

"It wasn't," GoGo replied, her voice muffled by the towel as she dried her hair.

"Then what happened?" Honey Lemon asked as she tied the barrettes in her hair.

"I panicked, okay!?" GoGo exclaimed as she plopped down on the bench, the towel still on her hair and partially covering her face, then she continued in a remorseful voice, "Yes, I'd been waiting for him to woman up and ask me out for what seemed like forever. However, when he did ask I had not been expecting it, and at the moment of truth I chickened out. You know what I'm like."

"Of course I do," Honey said as she sat on the bench in front of her, her towel wrapped around her modestly. She then placed a comradely hand on GoGo's shoulder and pushed the towel back on her head so she could look into her eyes as she continued, "I was the first one of our group to recognize that your stoic bluntness and sarcasm were used as shields you basically hid behind to protect yourself. If I had taken your attitude at face value, it might have taken longer for us to become friends."

"I doubt it," GoGo retorted in a lighter tone, giving her a half-smile, "You were so bubbly and outgoing, even back then, that I would have still become your friend just so you would give me room to breathe."

Honey gave her a small chuckle as she said, "Back then, you were the young kid on campus. But even though I've known you to be cold, tough, and uncompromising, I don't recall you ever saying anything you didn't mean."

"I did mean it, at least at the time I did," GoGo told her as she cast her eyes on the floor again, "I mean, I know that being a year and six months older won't mean so much to me in 20, 10, or even 5 years from now, but at the time he asked me it felt like it mattered very much."

"I know. I get it," Honey said as she lifted GoGo's chin back up so she can look in her eyes again, "But Hiro hasn't known you as long, so he IS likely to take your rejection at face value, and he is such a kind and sweet boy that he's not likely to ask you again and risk alienating you completely."

"I know. I'll….I'll think of something…" GoGo told her, adding with a sardonic smirk, "…assuming that we survive our current crisis, that is."

"Of course," Honey smiled at her friend, then she stood and said, "Well, we better finish getting dressed and get out there before one of the guys comes in for their turn at the showers."

GoGo's smirk then turned into the real thing as she stood and said, "Well they better be patient! If any of them walks in on us, then laser burns or no, I'll beat them black and blue!" GoGo then hugged Honey Lemon and said warmly, "Thanks for understanding."

Honey Lemon returned the embrace, saying, "Hey, what are friends for?"

* * *

><p>As the girls exited the decontamination room dressed in their civilian attire, GoGo saw evidence that they need not have worried about being walked in on. In typical guy fashion, a hamper in the corner of the room was piled full of towels the boys had apparently used to towel the alien gunk off them. Surprisingly the boys armor (including Baymax's) was all in the bin &amp; in the process of being recycled, even the undamaged pieces. Only GoGo's and Honey Lemon's were still remaining where they were left after removing them.<p>

Curious as to what was going on, GoGo looked around until she'd spotted them over by the 3D sculpting machine, which was currently producing new pieces of armor, and started heading their way. Wasabi, who'd spotted them coming their direction, asked them in disbelief, "We only have a short while to prepare ourselves before those alien freaks return, and you girls take the time to take a shower!?"

"You would too, if that goo had seeped in the seams and cracks of your armor, gotten in your hair," GoGo retorted stoically.

"For your information, not all of us had full body armor," Wasabi said back to her, adding proudly, "My armor didn't even include a helmet, and I got rained on just as much as you. But a few minutes toweling off and I was just as good as new!"

"It's fine, Wasabi. Really," Julian assured him, "I would be able to tell if the invaders were about to return, and we won't be able to head back out anyway until your new armor is finished."

"New armor?" Honey Lemon asked curiously, and GoGo had to admit that she was just as curious.

"Yeah!" Fred said excitedly, "Apparently this new armor will be totally alien-proof!"

"Well, more like 'alien-resistant," Julian corrected, "The design is basically the same, but I modified the formula of the materials just a bit, giving it a higher melting point and toughness against impact damage. The outer layers will also be better able to deflect the energy blasts they use, while the inner layers will soak up the damage and break off honeycomb fashion should the outer layers fail, providing an additional layer of protection."

"Cool," GoGo said, genuinely impressed.

"Yes, but this protection will not hold up indefinitely, so I would not go charge into battle recklessly thinking that you're invincible," Julian advised them, then he focused on Honey Lemon and said, "I've saved the formula and new designs in a hidden and encrypted folder on your computer, along with the formula you were interested in and anything else that was there that was Big Hero 6 related. I've also upgraded the security on your machine as well. While your computer still retains the same security measures it always had, in order to even see, much less access that encrypted folder, it now also requires a fingerprint scan, which I've hidden in your keyboard, and a retina scan, which is hidden in your monitor."

Honey looked rather impressed as she asked, "But how did you manage to get in in the first place?"

"Computer hacking is but one of many skills I've picked up in my travels," Julian told them, "I've even performed a life-saving surgery on a boy whose cuckoo clock heart was broken."

"His cuckoo clock….heart?" GoGo asked in confusion, certain that she must have misheard him.

"Such a thing would be a medical impossibility," Baymax countered in his usual voice, "The standard cuckoo clock does not have the capacity to sustain human life."

"I understand where you're coming from and would normally agree with you, but what I'm telling you really happened, so I must conclude that some sort of magic must have been involved to make it possible," Julian told him, "I had replaced the clock replaced with a kinetically-powered Swiss pocket watch, one I had specially modified to handle how emotions like love makes one's heart race better than his old clock heart did. Curious thing was that the clock heart he had was put in him by the woman who would end up raising him as her own, in order to replace the frozen heart he had been born with. Elsa might be interested in hearing that story. I'll have to remember to tell her, should I ever see her again."

"Who's Elsa?" Honey Lemon asked curiously.

"Just this queen of a distant kingdom," Julian told her, "She has powers over ice and snow you see, and one time she accidentally froze the heart of her sister Anna. This would have killed her, slowly freezing her to death from the inside out. However, Anna's act of love, sacrificing her life to save Elsa from a cowardly assassination attempt, saved not only Elsa's life but Anna's as well when the love thawed her frozen heart."

"Aww, that's nice," Honey said, looking on the verge of tearing up.

"Wait," GoGo said quickly, looking to not let this discussion spiral out of control, "You're talking about these places, of impossible anatomies and fairy-tale magic, like they're different worlds or something."

"That's right," Julian confirmed, "and as strange as it sounds, they really do exist."

"And does that mean that you're an alien too?" Hiro asked Julian, "Like those things that attacked us?"

"I guess you could say that," Julian conceded, "although I'm not 'like them' like them. I'm a human being from Earth like you, or mutant if your prefer. I'm just not from this Earth."

"What do you mean, 'this Earth'?" Wasabi asked him in confusion.

"Guys!" Fred interrupted, still as jazzed up as ever, "It's the Multiverse Theory!"

"That's right, Fred," Julian said, obviously impressed, "You know, you didn't strike me as being an intellectual like your friends here."

"He's not," GoGo told Julian, "He's just a big comic book nerd."

"Oh. I see," Julian chuckled, "Regardless, your friend Fred is correct. You see, the universe you know is but of one of many that exist alongside an infinite number of others, each on their own separate plane of existence, and their number is growing all the time. You see, in each instance where any event, no matter how small, can go in different ways, that is when a new universe is born. No where is that more evident than in the actions taken my sentient beings like humans. In one world, you see, Hitler could have been allowed by his father to pursue his dream of becoming an artist, in which case he would not have risen to power and the horrors of World War II would have never taken place. To use a more relevant example, Hiro, in one world your friends could have failed to prevent you from taking revenge for the death of your brother by having Baymax take Professor Callaghan's life. In that case you would have become a much different person, and Big Hero 6 would have ended before it even began."

Hiro stared at him in shock as he asked, "How did you know about that? Not even the press or the courts had…"

"I saw it, on my way here to help you," Julian explained.

"Whoa, so you can see the future too?" Fred asked in awe and wonder.

"Not exactly," Julian corrected him, "While I travel through the time stream, which is how I can travel from one earth to another, I can view the events of the past and present. On occasion I may get a glimpse of the future, although it's usually from a 'road not taken', but for the most part the future of a time stream I'm on usually remains an unreadable mess. Probably because it's always in motion until we make a choice."

"So you can see anything that happened to us ever?" Wasabi asked Julian, "Even when we were kids?"

"If my brain was big enough, then yes I could," Julian answered him, "However, I'm only human, and my brain can take only so much information at once. Therefore, when I go someplace I try to focus on only one person, and only on the information I need in order to either help or simply observe. For this world, I focused on you, Hiro."

"Why me?" Hiro asked.

"Initially, it was because you were the leader of the team that was defending this world against the invasion, and I needed to know what kind of person you were," Julian explained, "However, while I was glad to learn you were of the good sort, I was surprised to find that we had much in common."

"Like what?" Hiro asked again.

"For starters, the fact that the path both our lives helping people had started on began with the death of our brothers," Julian told him, "But while you journey started with a quest to bring your brother's killer to justice, mine had begun with my brother dying at my hands."

Everyone flinched back from Julian in shock as Honey Lemon asked in a tone that was both sympathetic an horrified, "You….killed your own brother?"

"It was an accident, but yes. The responsibility for my brother's death lies on my shoulders," Julian confirmed.

"What happened?" Hiro asked.

"I'll give you the cliff notes version, since we may not have much time before the next wave," Julian told them, "I was really young back then, and as such I didn't have the kind of control over my electric powers that I do now. Of course I was too stupid to know that back then, and was even dumber for using my potentially dangerous gift like a toy to play with my brother, doing idiotic things like playing Ceiling Tag."

"Ceiling tag?" Hiro asked for confirmation.

"I'd charge us both up good with static electricity, then we'd use the cling to chase after each other along the walls and ceiling," Julian explained.

"Sounds pretty awesome!" Fred said.

"We thought so too," Julian confirmed, "until one day, when I was 'it', my brother's static charge got too low and he fell. I tried to catch him, but instead I accidentally stopped his heart with an electric jolt."

"I'm so sorry," Honey told him sympathetically.

"If an electric jolt to the heart was what killed your brother, then a second jolt done soon enough should have revived him," Baymax commented, then he rubbed his hands together to reveal his built-in defibrillators as if he wanted to demonstrate.

"You're right, but I didn't know that back then," Julian said, "All I knew was that my brother was dead and it was all my fault. I told my parents what had happened, but they wouldn't let me tell others the truth of what happened to him and assuage my guilt, so I did the only thing a dumb kid like me could think of: I ran away from home."

"What happened then?" Fred asked, and for the first time since meeting Julian his voice wasn't full of enthusiasm.'

"We don't really have the kind of time I'd like to spend telling you kids of the things I've seen and done in my travels, but I will say that I met a man who changed my life," Julian told them, "Charles Xavier, a man who possessed powerful psychic gifts, found me and took me in. He convinced me that I was not a monster, helped me to learn how to control my gifts, and taught me that it was my responsibility to use my talents to help others."

"That guy sounds pretty cool," Hiro said.

"He was," Julian confirmed, "But I did not come to tell you my life story. We have much more important thing to discuss."

"Of course," GoGo said, glad to get down to business, "Let's start with what those thing were that attacked us today. You acted like you've encountered them before."

"I believe so," Julian told her, "If I'm not mistaken, those were the Chitauri: a technologically advanced alien race that serves as warrior-slaves to the mad titan Thanos".

"Thanos? Who's that?" Fred asked.

"Pray that you never meet him," Julian advised them, "He's perhaps the closest thing to a god you'll ever meet, and not a benevolent one. Incredibly powerful, unbelievably resilient, and wherever he goes death follows, some of whom that survived an encounter with him claim that's literally true."

"So what does this guy want with our planet?" Hiro asked Julian.

"Out of all the planets he's tried to conquer or annihilate, only one in any universe had managed to thwart him time after time, and that's Earth," Julian explained, "With its numerous heroes, foremost amongst them being the team known as the Avengers, any attempt he's made at conquering or destroying Earth has met in failure. As such, he holds a serious grudge."

"But we've never even heard of these Avengers," Wasabi said insistently, "so why is he attacking us?"

"I believe part of the reason he's choosing to attack you IS the fact that there's no Avengers here," Julian explained, "The formation of that team was instrumental in his first humiliating defeat, and I'm sure that through the portals he's created with the Infinity Stone he's likely acquired he has seen that the same has held true against the other versions of him."

"Infinity Stone?" Fred asked curiously.

"The Infinity Stones, and yes that's plural, are gems of immense power. In fact, the power one can wield with them is practically….well, infinite," Julian explained.

"Sounds pretty cool," Fred commented.

"Yeah, well don't go getting any bright ideas, Fred," Julian warned him, "Even if you could find any of those in this universe, the power contained within the Infinity Stones is too great for most mortal beings to handle. Nearly everyone who has tried had been overwhelmed by the power and destroyed. In the different universes I've seen, only Thanos and Adam Warlock had been successful in wielding them, although I heard that Peter Quill, a.k.a. Starlord, had managed to channel the power of one of them briefly. Of course Starlord had the help of his friends, a group of misfit aliens who call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy, and it didn't hurt that he wasn't entirely human himself."

"That's a cool hero team name," Fred complimented.

"But if this Thanos has one of these powerful gems, then why doesn't he just come and wipe us out himself?" Hiro asked.

"Possibly because he doesn't have the right one," Julian answered, "You see, each gem contains a certain power, likely a certain aspect of the universe that came before. One, the Tesseract, has the ability to open doorways in time and space. It was through his alliance with Loki that this gem was used to create the doorway Thanos' Chitauri used to invade that Earth, which lead to aforementioned defeat by the Avengers. I think that we can rule out Thanos having that one, though, as he likely would have used it instead to challenge the Avengers directly. Likewise we can probably rule out the one Starlord had recovered, as Thanos could have used its power of eliminating organic life directly instead to wipe everyone here out and pave his way for the invasion of the Avengers' world."

"That, I believe, is the other reason he chose to invade your world. While he seems to have managed to get enough energy from the Infinity Stone to create a portal to travel through, the machinery he's likely using isn't like powerful enough without the Tesseract to create a wormhole clear to the Avenger's world, at least to remain open long enough to allow a large enough force to overwhelm them for Thanos to claim victory. However, your world is relatively close dimensionally speaking to his, and yours is practically next door to the Avengers'," Julian continued, "By conquering your world, he gives himself a perfect staging area to lay siege to theirs. Then all he needs do is wear them down until he can go and finish them off himself."

"Well we were certainly lucky that you came along when you did," Hiro said gratefully, "I'm not sure what I would have done against that huge beast otherwise."

"Yes, those Leviathans can be rather troublesome," Julian agreed, "Even Iron Man had trouble dealing with them until the Hulk's punch created an opening for him and revealed that they're not so tough on the inside. Of course you kids were doing pretty well for being new at this. The only thing you're lacking is experience. That and a real heavy hitter."

"Baymax is pretty strong," Hiro said.

"Yes, and the ability to lift 1000 pounds sounds rather impressive," Julian agreed, "but his pacifist nature tends to work against him in that regard. What we need to help us currently is someone who not only has experience in this kind of situation but also has someone who's both strong and won't pull his punches. Fortunately I know where we can get someone like that."

"Really?"

"Yes," Julian confirmed, "There's this team situated over in Metroville, and the founding members have had years of experience before the Superhero Relocation Program forced them to retire for a while, but they've been back in action for a while, and I do believe that they would be happy to lend us a hand. I just need to get them here."

As Julian scanned the lab for a bit Honey Lemon asked, "What are you looking for?"

One moment later, Julian stopped by a sink and announced, "This'll work." He then bent the faucet neck up and turned it on full blast, causing a wide but thin stream to shoot from the distorted end and cascade onto the floor mere feet before them.

"You need to flood the lab in order to call your friends here?" GoGo scoffed, "You couldn't just create a portal in the air like the one you used to get here in the first place?"

"Not really," Julian told them, "When Thanos created the wormhole to attack you, I merely took advantage of the fact that anyone could use the open door to pass through. However, in order to create my own portal I require running water." Julian then charged his hands with electricity and fired them at the manmade waterfall, resulting in a door-sized rectangular area of glow to appear in it. As she watched, five figures stepped from the glowing water. Dressed in matching red and black uniforms, they were all of varying ages, some appearing rather young, but GoGo thought that the two older ones looked rather familiar. Fred, on the other hand, looked as though he'd died and gone to Geek Heaven.

"Oh…my…god…!" Fred breathed, then he started squeaking in an increasingly high pitch, "OhmygodohmygodOHMYGOD! I can't believe it! You….you're…?"

The older male stepped forward and said, "Mr. Incredible, at your service."


	3. 3) Preparations

**Preparations**

Hiro could not believe what was happening. Unlike the fictional heroes Fred liked to read about in his comics, these were real, living legends, or at least two of them were. Hiro had seen them before on the news just after he'd graduated high school. He remembered it clearly because he was fascinated by the huge robot they had been fighting. Hiro had even considered modeling his first battle-bot after it, but he couldn't get the power he'd wanted out of the arms, so he went with his more simplified-yet-powerful model instead.

Anyway, he'd done a bit of research after the incident. It required some deep digging into some cold files, some minor (for him)hacking, but it had taken him about 20 minutes back then to get all the information he could on these heroes (Hiro though he could have done it in 5 today). Of course there wasn't really anything on the younger members, and the youngest wasn't even there then, but Hiro had been fascinated by what he'd found on the elder members, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl.

As Hiro watched, yet another legend stepped through Julian's portal before it lost its glow. Hiro thought that Fred was going to have a heart attack as Frozone said, "Hey Bob? You weren't thinking of leaving me out of the action again, now were you? And does it always have to be water, Julian?"

As Frozone fired an ice blast that froze the stream up to the spigot, Julian said, "Sorry, but you know I need that to create my portals."

"Oh my god! You're Frozone, I can't believe it!" Fred practically squealed as he took Frozone's hand in both of his and shook it vigorously, "I am such a huge fan of your work, sir!"

"Uh, sure kid. Thanks," Frozone told Fred uncertainly, then he whispered into Mr. Incredible's ear, "Sorry about the slip-up there. I thought Julian was bringing us to somewhere private to prepare."

Mr. Incredible chuckles as he says, "It's okay, Lucius. We're all superheroes here."

"Really?" Frozone asked in surprised disbelief, "These kids?"

"Hey, our youngest member is about 10 or 11 years older than your youngest," GoGo countered, punctuating her sentence by popping her gum.

"Jack-Jack isn't really a member of the team, at least not yet," Elastigirl told them, superstretching her arms to grab the smallest one as he started to toddle off, "It's just impossible to find a sitter who we don't have to mind-wipe to forget that they'd just seen a toddler with super powers."

"Okay then, four years older," GoGo corrected herself.

"Hey, don't treat me like a kid! I'll have you know I'm 12 years old," the young boy who was barely breaching four and a half feet protested, then in a display of speed he dashed quickly to stop right in front of Go Go, waggling his eyebrows in a vaudeville-style show of appreciation as he added in an almost-smarmy voice, "going on 13."

"Ugh! Okay, two years older then. Happy now?" GoGo grunted as she used one arm to push the boy out of her personal space.

Julian chuckled as he said, "Anyway, what Mr. Incredible said was right: Despite their relative youth and inexperience, Big Hero 6 here truly are an accomplished group of heroes having, among other things, successfully averted disaster during the Krie Tech incident."

"Wait, these were those guys?" Frozone asked Julian, stunned, "These were the heroes who took down that creepy mask guy?"

"That 'creepy mask guy' was Professor Callaghan, and he happened to be our mentor," Wasabi growled as he glared at Frozone, then he sighed and his voice lost its heat as he continued, "and friend."

"I think that before we go much further that proper introductions are in order," Julian interjected, gesturing to each one in order, "Big Hero 6, I'd like to introduce you to The Incredibles, as well as their long time friend Frozone. Of course you've already been introduced to Mr. Incredible, and I'm sure Fred is already familiar with Elastilass, formerly known as Elastigirl."

Fred nodded vigorously, a huge smile on his face, as Elastilass rubbed the back of her head, explaining, "It just didn't feel too empowering to keep calling myself a 'girl' at my age."

Julian nodded understandingly, then he continued, "Then this young girl is called Transparengirl, due to her ability to turn transparent and create see-through forcefields, while this speedy young man is…"

The young man smiled proudly at GoGo as he interrupted, "I'm the Da…"

"…Lightning Lad," Julian continued, raising his voice to talk over the young speedster.

"Julian!" the young man protested, dashing over to look him in the eye, "I told you I wanted to be called the…"

"And I've already explained to you why you can't," Julian told him kindly, "Heroic names 101: never pick a crime-fighting alias that is close phonically to your actual secret identity, as it makes it easier for the bad guys to find out who you are and threaten you at home."

"Okay, but why can't I call myself the Flash instead?" the boy asked.

"Because that name's already taken," Julian chuckled, "Of course, technically Lightning Lad was too, but it's been years since that alias was used in any world, and I doubt that anyone would remember it now. And before you ask, you don't want to be calling yourself The Streak."

"Huh?" the boy asked in confusion, "Why not?"

Julian laughed openly as he answered, "Ask Ray Stevens."

The boy sighed in disappointment as he conceded, "Fine, Lightning Lad it is."

Julian smiled and tousled Lightning Lad's hair playfully, then he directed his attention to the kid in Elastilass' arms as he said, "Finally, while his mother is correct about Jack-Jack being too young to be officially part of the team, I believe when he's old enough that Changeling would be a good name for him."

"Changeling?" Elastilass asked Julian in confusion? "Why's that?"

"Because of his ability, of course," Julian told her simply, as if it should have been obvious.

Elastilass seemed to mull it over for a bit, the she said, "You're right, It does fit." She then turned to the child in her arms and began to tickle him until he was squealing with laughter, asking him, "How about you? Do you like the name Changeling? Huh? Do ya, do ya, do ya?"

Hiro chuckled at the delightful sounds of the child's laughter, even is spite of what they were about to face, and it seemed his feelings were not unique in this room. As Julian managed to catch his breath, he addressed those in the room once again, "So that takes care of our visitors' introductions, so I suppose I should begin familiarizing them with our local heroes. As I'm sure you could tell, Mr. Incredible, the young people making up Big Hero 6 aren't your average teenagers and 20-somethings. Each one is a genius in one field or another, save for Fred here, with their particular talents incorporated into their suit courtesy of young Hiro here."

"Wasabi here had created a laser-induced plasma grid, which Hiro had modified to take the form of wrist blades that can slice through just about anything," Julian pointed out, "Honey Lemon is an accomplished chemist. With the Chem-bag Hiro made for her she can whip up pretty much any compound she needs in seconds: from a hardening foam to restrain enemies to a cushioning gel to break otherwise painful falls, even a formula to turn the hardest of metal armor into a cloud of pink dust."

"GoGo is this team's speed demon, and she was incorporating the use of electro-magnetic suspension for use into bicycles, eliminating the resistance traditional axles and gears naturally have and increasing their top speeds. Hiro utilized that tech in her suit to enable her to skate around on those Mag-lev wheels at speeds that might even rival that of Kid Lightning here."

"Yeah right!" Kid Lightning scoffed in disbelief.

"It's possible in theory," Julian insisted, "Of course while she's an excellent athlete, she is only human and lacks your superhuman reflexes and ability to stop or turn on a dime. That makes her trying to achieve those speeds rather dangerous, so I guess we'll never know. Of course she can also use those disks as throwing weapons, which combined with her speed and maneuverability makes her a rather versatile fighter."

"In other words, I'm still the fastest," Kid Lightning confirmed smugly, though Hiro saw he eyed GoGo's disks with renewed interest.

"The remaining three members, Fred, Hiro and Baymax, don't exactly have proper hero names yet, but I imagine we can come up with something before this invasion's over," Julian continued.

"I've been thinking about that," Fred told them, "What do you guys think about…Fredzilla?"

"Lame," Wasabi commented.

"Weak," Go Go seconded.

"And it violates Heroic Names 101," Julian told him, "Besides, that suit of yours doesn't look much like a 'zilla' of any kind to me. How about something more fitting, like Triclops, because it has three eyes on it."

"Hmm, not bad," Fred complimented, " 'Beware the fury of Triclops!' I like it!"

"You say that this kid isn't super-smart like the others on this team?" Frozone asked Julian.

"That's correct" Julian confirmed, "He's basically a comic-book geek turned superhero."

"So then what does this kid contribute to the team?" Frozone pressed, "because right now he's striking me as a Pre-Syndrome Incrediboy."

Mr. Incredible chuckled and said, "If only you knew."

"What?" Frozone asked his old friend, "What am I missing?"

"I guess I can't blame you for not noticing the resemblance," Mr. Incredible told his friend, "considering how long it's been since we've seen the guy."

"Anyway, besides his boundless enthusiasm and his nimbleness he developed though his serving as the school mascot," Julian interrupted, "he's actually a pretty good fighter inside his suit, which was also provided by Hiro and gives Fred a super-jump and the ability to 'breathe fire'. Also, the funds he has access to through his family makes it possible for Hiro and his friends to get their hands on the materials they need for their heroic activities without drawing unwanted attention."

"Finally, you cannot talk about Baymax without talking about Hiro, and vice-versa," Julian continued, "Baymax was designed to be the ultimate healthcare robot by Hiro's brother Tadashi before his untimely demise. When Hiro learned that the fire that killed his brother may not have been an accident, that it may have been set deliberately by someone to hide the fact that they stole Hiro's microbots, Hiro upgraded Baymax with a fighting program as well as an armor that gives him flight, a rocket punch, and enhanced scanning capabilities. As for Hiro's own armor, the magnetic pads built into his suit allows him to ride into battle on Baymax's back without falling off, even when flying at top speeds."

"That's pretty cool," Transparengirl said, focusing on Hiro as she asked, "So what else can you do?"

"That's pretty much it," Hiro told her, "I command Baymax in battle, repair or replace by friends' armor when it gets damaged, and come up with many of the strategies we use when fighting."

"That's it?" Frozone asked in disbelief, "You gave all your friends superpowers to fight while you just stick to your robot's back like a refrigerator magnet?"

Hiro looked around uncomfortably at his friends, who looked back at him with sympathetic looks, then he reached over and grabbed one of the alien weapons from a nearby table as he said, "We also got these laser guns in the last battle."

"Oh, that's great," Frozone told him sarcastically, "It's not like they have a THOUSAND MORE OR SOMETHING!"

"Lucius," Mr. Incredible said softly to his friend.

"No, he's right," Julian told them, "Despite the various talents we've gathered here, and the modest arsenal Hiro and his friends had gathered, it won't be quite enough to turn the tide when the Chitauri break through again. However, we have one more resource at our disposal, one which should prove the key to victory." Julian then made his fingers crackle with electricity, an Hiro felt his shirt lurch as the dormant microbot was magnetically plucked from the pocket he'd kept it in.

"My microbots?" Hiro asked in confusion.

Julian nodded as he said, "This is what will save our bacon."

"And how's that little thing supposed to help?" Frozone asked.

"You recall how the 'creepy masked guy' attacked Krie Tech?" Julian asked him, then he held up the tiny robot for emphasis as he told Frozone, "It was this, replicated many times over. Of course we'll need about three times as many as Professor Callaghan had used that day for what I have in mind, but I believe that I can modify the equipment here to produce that many before the Chitauri return."

"So I take it you've got a plan?" Mr. Incredible asked him.

Julian nodded and said, "First, we'll need to draw as many invaders as we can out of the portal while keeping the citizenry safe. Also, even though he'll be in the middle of the fighting, we'll need to keep Hiro safe, as he and his microbots are our ace in the hole. The main objective of the entire operation will be the Chitauri's mothership, which serves as the major nerve center of their hive mind."

"So once they've brought over enough of their troops to Earth I use my microbots to destroy this ship, and that'll stop them?" Hiro asked.

"Like marionettes with their strings cut," Julian confirmed, "But it won't be that simple. Unlike the troops and the Leviathans, the mothership will not likely ever pass through the portal itself, relying on the surrounding troops and the vacuum of space for its protection. Because your 'bots won't have any propulsion there themselves and your link might not reach that far through the portal, you and Baymax will need to guide them there personally. As such, I've modified your suits to remain pressurized and provide you with the air you'll need."

"If destroying their mothership stops them, then why do we need to wait to do so?" Wasabi asked, "Why can't we just go through as soon as the portal opens and smash it?"

"There's two reasons: the first is practicality and safety," Julian explained, "The more of them there are on Earth, the fewer there will be that Hiro and Baymax will have to muscle past on the other side of the portal, and the reverse is also true. Therefore, by drawing most of them here before going in, we'll make it easier for Hiro and Baymax to accomplish their mission without serious injury."

"As for the second reason, that too is also simple: We want this loss to be so costly to Thanos that he doesn't try to encroach on this universe again," Julian continues, "Even if Hiro and Baymax manage to fight their way past all the squadrons of Chitauri without getting killed and manage to destroy the mothership, most of the troops will be on their side of the portal, in which case it's possible that Thanos can have them re-slaved to a new mothership. Even worse, if he decides to try invading your world again he'll be ready to stop you from trying the same tactic against him. However, if we wait for him to send most of his troops through before going and destroying his ship, then those troops will be stuck here with no way for him to retrieve and reuse them, making returning to this world not feasible for him."

"Well, I'm all for them not returning, so as long as we can pull it off without anyone getting killed in the process then I'm all for it," Hiro said, then the turned towards the others and asked, "How about you guys?"

Everyone nodded and murmured their acceptance as Wasabi said, "If this means we see an end to this creature-feature, absolutely."

Hiro then sat down and began entering the parameters for his devices as he said, "Then let's do this."

Sometime later, after Julian suggested some alterations to the design (purportedly to prevent a repeat of the Krie Tech incident) the manufacture of the microbots was underway. Hiro had then taken most of his completed armor, leaving behind his helmet so that the new neural transmitter could be fitted in it once it was completed, then he'd left the room. GoGo remained behind for a while watching the tiny bots roll off the conveyor belts, then a combination of boredom and concern for the fact that Hiro hadn't returned yet got the better of her. After quietly talking with Honey Lemon and getting her to agree to keep an eye on Julian in her absence (neither of them knew him well enough to trust that he won't hurt Hiro by betraying him the way Professor Callaghan had), GoGo slipped from the room to look for Hiro.

After a moment of looking, GoGo located Hiro up on the roof. He was wearing his armor and sitting on the edge, looking out on the town. GoGo had to admit that the damage didn't look as bad from out here, and with the sun setting the town actually looked pretty and peaceful. She hoped that it could stay that way, that the invaders would stay gone and all the preparations that they'd been putting together would prove to be not needed. However, if half of what they'd heard about Thanos was true, it didn't sound as though he was the kind of conqueror who gave up after his troops were pushed out the door before it was slammed shut behind them.

When she took a seat beside him, noting with pleasant surprise that this new armor didn't pinch the way her old one did, Go Go saw that Hiro's brow was furrowed in concern. "What's wrong, Hiro?" GoGo asked him, "You look like you're worried."

"I am," Hiro admitted, "So much of this plan's success hinges upon me and my microbots. When I had invented them, I never imagined that I'd have to use them to save the world from an alien invasion."

"Look, you'll do fine," GoGo assured him, "We'll keep you covered until you have to go solo, and Julian assured us that the only major change made to your machines is that they'll respond to your thought-waves alone. Otherwise they should operate just the same."

"I know. That's not what worries me," Hiro told her, "Each of the things we've faced, the crimes we've solved, each crisis we've averted, we've always faced them as a team. I've just never had so much riding solely on my shoulders before."

"It'll be all right, Hiro," GoGo told him, "We've always relied on you before, and you've always pulled through."

"Yes, but each of those times one of you could have easily stepped in to complete the mission if anything happened to me," Hiro countered, "But there's no backup plan this time. If I should fall here, it's game over. Of course I don't really mind dying if I can save all of you in the process of doing so, but…"

"Don't talk like that!" GoGo interrupted him in a shocked tone, "You'll succeed in your mission and make it back to us alive!"

"She's right, you know," GoGo heard Julian say behind her, and she saw everyone else standing behind him near the roof access, all suited up, "Talk like that has never been conducive to the success of a mission. The mindset you have has a stronger influence on things than you can imagine. If you go into something like this thinking you're going to die or to fail, then chances are that is what will happen. You have to stay positive if there's any chance for us all to make it through this. After all, you are the leader of your team, just like Mr. Incredible is the leader of his team. They depend on you to keep a cool head, and when things are at bleakest they need you to tell them things will turn out all right if they don't give up. Most importantly, they need you to believe it."

_Great! _GoGo thought sarcastically, _As if Hiro needed any __**more**_ _pressure!_ However, it seemed to her as if Julian's words had an impact on Hiro as he closed his eyes and took a deep cleansing breath. When Hiro opened his eyes again, the doubt and uncertainty GoGo had seen in there was gone. Hiro took his helmet from Julian as he said, "I take it the Microbot construction is complete?"

"Just moments ago, in fact," Julian confirmed, "We could have produced about 250 more units, in fact, but I thought it best to remove any evidence of their manufacture here, just in case someone decides to take shelter here."

Hiro nodded his understanding, and GoGo had to admit it was rather forward thinking on his part. Then there was a loud crack heard from the sky, and Julian turned to face the city as he continued, "And it looks as if it weren't a moment too soon. The atmosphere's ionization is now rather low, so I expect we'll see a new portal right about….now." As Julian finished, the wormhole opened again just where it had before.

As the first of the invaders began to emerge from the rip in the sky, Hiro placed the helmet on his head and pressed a hidden button built into the right head fin, activating something that lit up his forehead. "Then what are we waiting for?" GoGo heard Hiro say through her headset as the black microbots poured out of the stairwell and climbed up over the edge of the roof, "Let's go save the world."


	4. 4) Counterstrike

**Counterstrike**

As they flew through the air, Hiro marveled at the upgraded capabilities he'd built into Baymax when he'd rebuilt him. Beyond the super-capacitor battery he'd used in place of the lithium-ion battery that was in his original design, which lets him be active longer and fight harder, the enhanced strength was really coming in handy even now. Of course when Julian had made the comment about Baymax's 1000 lb. strength Hiro had chosen not to correct him about it now being more: the more people who think that Baymax is still the same robot his brother designed, the fewer people who will make the connection that he might be the Robot of Big Hero 6.

Hiro looked down when he heard Wasabi, who was riding in the basket made up of microbots Baymax was carrying along with all the other heroes save for Frozone and Julian, calling out through the static on the headset, "So Hiro, do we have a plan beyond the endgame Julian explained?"

"I think the plan should be much the same as it was before, only with the new additions factored in," Hiro told them, "You'll be on the roofs again with Fred, and Frozone will be working with you. GoGo, you will be on the ground again making sure that the citizens are off the streets and out of harms way, and Kid Lightning will be with you."

"You're pairing me with the runt?" GoGo asked him in irritation.

"What's the matter?" Kid Lightning asked her cockily, "Afraid you can't keep up?"

GoGo glared at the kid but said nothing more, and Hiro reprimanded them, "Knock it off, you two. We need to work together to end this positively. Honey Lemon, you'll be working with Elastilass and Transparengirl to keep the Chitauri from getting into the areas the citizens will be taking refuge in and harm them." As Hiro eyed the harness on Elastilass' back he added hesitantly, "Are you sure that you don't want to leave Changeling somewhere safe? I could have my microbots form a playpen for him."

"Thanks for the offer, but I don't think that even your microbots will be able to hold him, and I don't want to leave Jack-Jack alone or with anyone who won't be able to handle him," Elastilass responded, "I still feel guilty about what happened to Kari, and that was back when we thought he didn't have powers. Besides he'll be safer with me and Transparengirl than he would be elsewhere, and Julian assured me that the deflection forcefield he'd built into my harness will shield him from any stray shots."

"Yeah, we'll keep the kid safe, so don't worry," Honey Lemon assured him.

Hiro nodded his understanding, then he continued, "Meanwhile, Baymax and I will be working on taking out as many of these flyers and Leviathans before they can get low enough to pose much of a threat to the city, at least until such a point where we have enough of them here for us two to use the microbots to deliver the final blow."

"Guys, I'll help as much as I can, but I'm not a flyer," Mr. Incredible told them.

"That's okay, neither was the Hulk: he was just a strong hitter and jumper like you, and he managed to take down a good number of Leviathans just fine, many of them practically single-handed," Julian assured him, "You'll do fine, and if you need a boost to reach the heights you need we can help with that. Anyway, you all need to keep an eye open wide during all this. If any of you happen to notice anything unusual, like a sudden change in the enemy's tactics, be sure to let your team leaders know as it might be a sign for Hiro to set the endgame in motion. By destroying the mothership's nerve center we'll leave all the troops linked to it inert, and with the majority of them here on Earth he'll not have the resources to continue his campaign here, forcing him to try to find another way to exact his vengeance on the Avenger's Earth."

Hiro and the others nodded their understanding, then Hiro sent a mental command for his microbots following on the ground to come up and form zip lines attaching to the basket to get the groups quickly to their locations, saying as they climbed on, "Fight well, help each other out and we'll sin the day and all come back alive."

* * *

><p>As Cass Hamada paced the shelter she'd been in since the invasion had first started, she stared at the phone in her hand in desperate frustration. Part of her wanted to just smash the infuriating thing on the ground since it hasn't even worked since shortly after this ordeal started. On the other hand, she held onto it with the hopes that it would start working soon, and she'd be able to find out if Hiro's alright.<p>

The last time she talked to him was at noon, when she called him to find out if he had plans tonight, to which he'd responded that he didn't know yet. That was hours ago, and when he didn't show up at this shelter she tried calling, only to find out she (and everyone else she asked, apparently) had no reception whatsoever).

To make matters worse the televisions had went out the same time, around the moment when that stranger had blown up that huge creature that was about to swallow one of the heroes whole; the last image she'd seen before all reception went out was that man firing a lightning bolt into the hole in the sky.

Cass looked down at her phone again and despite seeing that it was still showing no bars she was tempted to try calling Hiro again. However, she stopped when she noticed someone familiar over by the drink cooler getting some water. Cass recognized Abagail Callaghan from the fact that the media had covered her rescue nearly as much as her father's arrest, which made sense since they occurred during the same incident and the same heroes who saved Abagail stopped her father from destroying the city. Of course Cass had some reservations about Abagail being named Headmaster of Hiro's school, considering that her father had only been a professor when he'd stolen the microbots Hiro had just invented and set the fire that killed Tadashi, but Cass conceded that Abagail was not involved in either act, and this was likely a publicity stunt anyway to counter the negative press the school was receiving due to Professor Callaghan's actions.

Cass walked over and got herself some water as well, asking as she did so, "Ms. Callaghan?"

"Yes?" Abagail responded, apparently familiar with her recognizability by now, though her tone indicated that she was uncomfortable with the negative connection people usually made with her.

"I'm Cass Hamada, Hiro's aunt," Cass introduced herself, "Please, can you please tell me what had happened to him? I've had no luck in contacting him since this thing started."

"Hiro? Last I saw, he was working on a project back at the lab," Abagail told her, apparently surprised at this course of discussion, "He told me that he'd call you to let you know before I left to see my father."

"This thing must have knocked out his phone too," Cass mused, then she said to Abagail, "I'm surprised you wanted to speak with your father, considering what he's done. I mean he stole from Hiro and killed his brother."

"I know, I read the papers," Abagail acknowledged, "But I needed to know why, to hear it in his own words. The father I knew would never have done such a thing, and I needed to understand what had happened to change him. I didn't get to talk with him before the trial as I was still recovering in the hospital at the time, and since he confessed the trial ended very quickly. Afterwards I had been kept very busy with my new responsibilities at the Institute, so I hadn't had the opportunity before now to visit him."

"I think I understand," Cass conceded, wondering how she herself would react if she'd learned that her parents had done something like this, or even her sister, before the untimely death of her and her husband left Cass the legal guardian of Hiro and Tadashi, "So did you manage to find out?"

"No, I'm afraid not," Abagail sighed, "The invasion started before I could get there, and the police officer who redirected me here told be that the prison would be under lockdown and visits would not be allowed until it's over anyway."

"I see," Cass said, "Well…"

The rest of what Cass was going to say as the white noise of the TV gave way to voices coming from it. When she looked, she saw that it was broadcasting again. It wasn't perfect, as the picture kept breaking up and the voice was still very staticy, but she was able to make out the image of the portal from before, and even more aliens were pouring out of it than before.

"Hello? Are we back on?" the voice of the newscaster was heard saying as the camera panned over the frightening image of their city under siege, "This is Iris Morgenstern, reporting for SFNN. Mere hours ago mysterious alien forces had begun their relentless assault on San Fransokyo without explanation. Although their assault was ruthless, many innocent lives were saved due to the concentrated efforts of the team of heroes who saved this city months ago from the assault of once-renowned Professor Callaghan. Along with the appearance of a mysterious new hero, they managed to turn back the assault and send the invaders back through the portal in which they appeared, though the effort apparently resulted in atmospheric interference that blacked out most modern forms of communication, including television and cellular phones, and even hardline phones have been unusable due to backlogged traffic. However, it seems as though the heroes efforts had resulted in only a temporary respite, as the weakening of the atmospheric interference moments ago has coincided with the return of the alien menace, and while the hostile forces have increased in number there's still no sign of….hold on…"

The camera panned to fix on the approach of the robot from that hero team the newslady mentioned, and it appeared he was carrying a large black basked with several other costumed individuals inside. The reporter recovered and continued, "Yes, it looks as though our local heroes have returned! And if I'm not mistaken, it appears that….Yes, it's confirmed! Mr. Incredible and his team of supers have come from Metroville to join us in this resistance! Wait….is that…?"

Cass gasped as she saw what the reporter noticed: the basket that was carrying the heroes was breaking up in certain areas even as black tendrils rose up to attach themselves to it, seamlessly melding with it. The way they moved reminded her of the demonstration Hiro held that horrible night they both lost Tadashi, and it seemed that she wasn't the only one to make that connection. "Ladies and gentlemen, not sure what to make of this, but it seems as though our heroes have somehow managed to get their hands on the robot swarm that Professor Callaghan used to attack the Krie Tech campus building," the reporter stated, "What this means for San Fansokyo's chances or for the world as a whole, I don't know, but I will continue to broadcast for as long as I can."

Cass understood the reporter's confusion. She, like many other people in this city, had believed that Hiro's microbots that had been stolen ended up destroyed when Callaghan's portal exploded. Had Hiro possibly made more? But why? Was he somewhere out there in all of this mess? And why did these heroes have them now? Cass looked down her phone again. It was still showing no bars, but she still had to try as she desperately attempted to call Hiro once again.

* * *

><p>As they raced across the rooftops, Wasabi had to admire the skill with which Frozone used his skill to take out the aliens along the way, icing the end of one of their rifles so that it exploded in their face when thee tried to fire. On another he clogged the jet port of the thruster port of the aliens' flying sled, causing it to lose altitude and explode on the street below.<p>

As Wasabi used his wrist blades to cut through the midpoint of a passing alien sled, resulting in both halves spiraling to opposite sides of the street and crashing into the buildings there, Frozone asked him, "So, I was wondering….you and that GoGo girl, are you two possibly a couple?"

"What?" Wasabi asked him and shock and surprise, "I ain't no cradle robber! She's like six or seven years younger than me."

"Really?" Frozone asked, surprised at this revelation, "It didn't seem that way to me."

"Yeah, she can seem rather mature at times, and she certainly drives much better than most people twice her age with specialized training," Wasabi explains, "but if she wasn't so smart that she graduated early, she would be a junior in high school now."

"Wow, imagine that," Frozone remarked in an impressed tone.

"Yeah," Wasabi agreed, "I value our friendship, I respect her skills, both in the lab and on the field, I even find her not unpleasant to be around most of the time. In many ways I think of her as a little sister, but there's nothing 'special' going on between us."

"Besides," Fred, who was really taking to his new codename of Triclops, added as he roasted a group of aliens bearing down on them with his fire breath, "it's Honey Lemon that Wasabi really likes."

"Fred! I swear…" Wasabi yelled at him before he trailed off in a growl, which he punctuated with a backward swing of his arm, the activated laser blade cleanly severing a pair of Chitauri's torsos from the rest of their bodies as the skiff sailed on.

"Really? You and the chem-queen?" Frozone remarked with a grin as he caused an ice stalactite to shoot up from the ground and grab a skiff overhead, the sudden stop causing the aliens to flip over the railing and nearly be pulled in half the wrong way by their safety tethers, before a second ice pillar slammed into the skiff and sent it somersaulting backwards into a group of fliers behind it, all of which erupted into a massive explosion.

"Look, there's no 'me and Honey Lemon', all right?" Wasabi protested. When both Fred and Frozone gave him what he interpreted as askance glances (though with their faces covered it was hard to tell, Wasabi continued, "Okay, it's true that I like her, but I haven't exactly told her. Understand?"

"You haven't?" Frozone asked him, "Why not?"

"As much as I like her, the two of us are completely different," Wasabi explained to him as he continued battling, "Don't know if you noticed, but I'm kinda uptight. I like precision, I have a place for everything, and prefer everything in its place. Honey Lemon, on the other hand, is a bit of a free spirit. She likes to experiment with all kinds of things and she doesn't mind if things get a little messy, or very messy as the case might be. Right now the two of us are good friends, and I like that. However, I'm afraid that if I take that next step to beyond friendship, and we prove to be as incompatible as I fear we may be, that we can't go back to being friends and what we had may end up lost forever."

"Man, does that take me back," Frozone commented nostalgically, and when both Fred and Wasabi looked at him Frozone continued, "It's just that back in the old days, before the events that necessitated the Superhero Relocation Program, I would never have betted on Bob and Helen becoming a couple, let alone getting married and having kids. I mean, Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible tying the knot? Forget it! Those two were as different as night and day. However, they defied the odds and managed to make it work. I won't say that you wouldn't be taking a risk in moving your relationship beyond where it is now, but the richer parts of life don't naturally rest within our safe, comfortable zones. 'The greater the risk, the greater the reward' is more than just a saying kid. If you never take the chance you might be missing out on so much, not to mention you could miss your chance with her, as someone is bound sooner or later to see how pretty she is and not be intimidated by her smarts. Therefore, my advice to you is to go for it, and sooner rather than later."

Wasabi considered it for a moment, then as he impaled one Chitauri on his blade and used the confiscated laser lance to blast a couple more skiffs out of the sky he said, "Thanks, Frozone. You're a pretty cool guy." He then chuckled and added, "No pun intended."

"That's okay. When you've been in the business as long as I have, you've pretty much heard them all," Frozone assured him. Holding his had out as he said, "Now what do you say we get back to putting these aliens on ice?"

Wasabi took the offered hand as he said, "You got it!"

"Alright!" Fred joined in, covering both of their hands as he added, "Beware the trio of fire, ice, and lightning!" When Wasabi looked at him askance, Fred amended, "Or, you know, laser-induced-plasma."

Frozone chuckled as he said, "Let's go," then the three of them leapt back into the heart of the fray.

* * *

><p>Despite the irritation factor GoGo had in being partnered with little Kid Lightning here (who was indeed faster than her as he'd bragged, at least for now), she really felt that she was in her element here. Zooming through the streets of her home, finding pockets of people isolated by the fighting and guiding them to the different shelter locations, and running interference for the fleeing citizens by dodging laser blasts by mere millimeters and countering with tosses of her disks, made her feel alive like nothing else. Of course she had to admit that the Kid was able to do most of these things faster than she, and she felt slightly jealous that she didn't possess his inhuman reflexes at the very least.<p>

On the other hand, this little hero didn't have the attack options she did, neither possessing her disks nor being big enough to use either the aliens' arm cannons or their laser lances, relying instead mostly on machine gun-fast flurry of punches. Of course the Kid was rather resourceful as well, forcing one alien to alter the aim of its arm cannon instants before it discharged, blasting one of its own instead of one of them. And GoGo got a kick out of watching one of the aliens frantically fumbling for one of the grenade-like things Kid Lightning had activated on its waist before it exploded, taking out an entire swath of the invaders with it.

Of course they were still ridiculously outnumbered, and it didn't seem as though the aliens really minded hitting each other so long as they got them (or perhaps they feared failing the one they served more). So it was a mere matter of time before something unfortunate happened. As GoGo had managed to leap up in the air and toss her disk, taking out a number of a group of the Chitauri as it ricocheted amongst them, a stray laser blast knocked off the disk on her right foot, the combined momentum of the leap and of the disk being ripped off sending her spinning into a painful crash landing. While she was gathering her senses, GoGo craned her neck to look up and saw one of the Chitauri standing near her, bellowing as it raised its laser lance in both hands to impale her…

…before a gigantic black fist slammed down from the sky, flattening her would-be executioner and a couple of its fellows before they could do her harm. Then it broke up into its component microbots that reconfigured into a wave that swept the street clean of aggressors before returning to the sky, and GoGo traced their flight path to a passing Leviathan, where she found she was just able to make out a number of figures fighting upon its back.

"Hiro," GoGo said with a small chuckle and a grin.

"Hey," Kid Lightning asked in concern as he raced up to her, "You okay?"

"Yeah, Kid, I'm fine," GoGo assured him, not looking at him nor losing her grin.

Kid Lightning followed her gaze, then he looked back at her with a sly grin as he asked her in a smug voice, "Ah, I see! You like that Hiro guy, don't you?"

"Huh?" GoGo said as her grin faded, now looking at Kid Lightning directly, "Hiro's just a good friend, that's all."

"Hah!" Kid Lightning exclaimed tauntingly, "You like him! You like him! You really, really like him!"

As the boy pranced around in his revelation, GoGo wasn't sure if she found his childish needling irritating or endearing, but she was glad they weren't broadcasting openly at the moment. She settled for giving him a lopsided grin as she glared at him and said, "I'm surprised your sister hasn't killed you yet, Kid."

"Oh, she's tried, but I'm just too fast!" Kid Lightning bragged proudly.

"I see, but keep in mind that I'm quite a bit faster than your sister," GoGo warned him, keeping her cockeyed grin as she narrowed her eyes dangerously, "So you best watch it, or we'll see if you can outrun both me _and_ my disks!"

"Okay, okay! I was just kidding around, sheesh!" Kid Lightning told her as he raised both hands placatingly and backing up slowly. As she magnetically retrieved both lost disks and reattached them to her wrist and ankle, GoGo heard the Kid ask hesitantly, "So….I heard that you made those cool disks yourself? I was wondering, since I'm not going to be a jerk, embarrassing you in front of your friends or anything, I was wondering if you could possibly make one of those for m…"

GoGo gave Kid Lightning a real glare as she asked him, "Are you seriously blackmailing me, Kid?"

"What? No!" Kid lightning exclaimed, looking genuinely shocked that GoGo would come to that conclusion, "I'm no bad guy! It's just…I'm trying to be nice here, I was genuinely interested in those things, and I just thought that if I wasn't so irritating that…"

GoGo couldn't help it, she just burst out laughing. "Relax, Kid, I'm just messing with you, though you ought to work a bit on your presentation," she managed to get out between chortles, and after a bit Kid Lightning chuckled a bit himself. As the laughter died down, GoGo told him, "You know, Kid, you're pretty cool. Kinda like the little brother I never had….and admittedly never thought I wanted."

"You're not bad yourself, GoGo," Kid Lightning returned, "Certainly not as stuck up as my real sister."

"Thanks, but I'm sure that if your sister acts that way then it's likely that it's because she feels she needs to be the 'responsible one', being older and all," GoGo assured him.

As GoGo scanned the streets around them for signs of more invaders or other people needing help, she heard Kid Lightning ask again even more hesitant than before, "So, um, about that disk…?"

GoGo let out one small chuckle as she turned her head to look at him and say, "Tell you what, let's focus on this invasion problem for the moment, and if we and this city are still standing at the end I'll see what I can do."

Kid Lightning laughed in exhilaration as he said, "You got it! There's no way these slowpoke aliens can catch the two fastest heroes on this planet!"

GoGo smiled warmly at the young hero, feeling a bond of friendship forming between them, then a laser blast shooting past the two of them caused her to look back to see a new squad of Chitauri bearing down on them. "It looks like these 'slowpokes' are feeling a bit neglected," GoGo said as she got her throwing disk ready, keeping her eyes on the invaders, "What do you say we go and say 'hi'?"

"Yes, let's do it!" Kid Lightning agreed, then the two of them raced off to meet the charge.

* * *

><p>As he continued his battle, Hiro had discovered that these Leviathans apparently served as some sort of living troop transporters. Using his microbots to bash, jab, bludgeon, and otherwise sweep off the invading troops who kept climbing up out of the Leviathan's sides to join him on its back, Hiro fought hard alongside Baymax (who kept calling out his attacks such as "back kick", "knife hand", and "roundhouse"), Mr. Incredible (who used his own impressive prowess to take on a large portion of the aliens, even as a laser hit in his shoulder caused him to cry out in pain), and Julian (who used electromagnetic force to rip off a section of the Leviathan's armor and swung it through the air to bash off the shooter). Mr. Incredible then grabbed the huge wedge of metal, then leapt and drove it through the armor in the Leviathan's head. Then Baymax leapt over all their heads and, with a cry of "hammer fist", drove that wedge deep into the gargantuan alien's head.<p>

Hiro supposed that must have done the trick, as it finally crashed down into the street below. No more troops emerged from the Leviathan's dead form, and there was no universal cry of outrage like there was when Julian took the first one down, but Hiro supposed it was because they were expecting this kind of resistance this time. Instead, Hiro simply used the microbots to form a harness around Mr. Incredible and climbed on Baymax as he flew the three of them towards yet another Leviathan, Julian magnetically following along behind them.

* * *

><p>In an alley that served as the entrance to the shelter closest to the point of invasion, Honey Lemon fought the Chitauri back to back along with Elastilass and Transparengirl, using her confiscated arm cannon to mow down the horde as the others bashed them with elongated limbs and invisible forcefields. As Honey Lemon had just about finished clearing the group in front of her, she was surprised when her weapon suddenly stopped firing. She wasn't sure if it had overheated or if it ran out of juice, but she supposed it didn't matter either way as the one remaining alien before her prepared to return fire. Then a twin pair of lasers shot past her shoulder and knocked the last alien down.<p>

Honey Lemon turned to look and saw that the blast that saved her did not come from Elastilass or Transparengirl, who were not equipped to do so anyway and were busy mopping up the remainder of this wave of aliens, but rather from the eyes of young Changeling riding comfortably on his mother's back.

"Changeling?" Honey Lemon asked the young hero, uncertain as to whether to believe what just happened, "Did you just save me with laser vision?"

Changeling's response was to laugh in delight as he squealed, "Hon Lem!"

Honey Lemon could not help but laugh in return, both at the child's joy as well as in realization that, for all his tremendous power, this boy was still little more than a toddler. "Yeah, 'Hon Lem'! That's right!" Honey Lemon praised him.

Both Elastilass and Transparengirl, who couldn't help overhearing, turned to look, with Elastilass stretching her neck around to look at him on her back as she asked proudly, "Did I hear my little man did good? Who's my brave boy?"

"But how did he?" Transparengirl asked in confusion as she poked the space just in front of him, the invisible forcefield shimmering as it stopped her finger, "I thought that this shield was supposed to protect Jack-Jack from things like lasers."

"Well, Julian designed it, and he's figured out more about Jack-Jack and what he's capable of than we've ever imagined," Elastilass reasoned, "so maybe he designed it so that lasers are reflected _outside_ the field, that way Jack-Jack doesn't accidentally hurt himself or…."

But Honey Lemon spotted something the others hadn't. Her pulse raced as she hurriedly punched in a formula on her chem-bag, Honey Lemon then caught the sphere it produced and hurled it just over Elastilass' head. Catching onto Honey's change of demeanor, Transparengirl and Elastilass watched as the sphere bursts in the face of a Chitauri who had been raising its lance for the kill, then they cringe at its cry of pain and rage as everything metallic about it (including its own cybernetic parts) dissolves in a poof of pink powder.

Elastilass looked back and forth fretfully with wide eyes between the moaning and pitifully handicapped alien and the innocent eyes of her son, then once her breathing slowed she nimbly twisted around in her harness in order to cradle her son protectively as she mused, "Maybe I should see if the NSA has someone qualified to watch over Jack-Jack during these things from here on out, at least until he's old enough to join us as Changeling."

"If they do then that's probably not a bad idea, but we will keep him safe today," Honey Lemon assured her while she confiscated a laser lance from one of the downed aliens, "We'll make sure these aliens don't hurt your son or anyone else."

"Hey Julian, Hiro? You guys reading me?" Honey Lemon heard Wasabi ask through the communicator built into her helmet.

* * *

><p>Hiro, whose group was powering through a group of skiffs after taking down a second Leviathan on their way to a third, also picked up on the transmission as Wasabi continued, "I thought you said that the big mothership thing would not pass through the wormhole during this invasion.<p>

Julian nodded as he confirmed, "The mothership is the linchpin that makes this invasion possible. It shouldn't come through so long as there's a possibility of it being destroyed."

"Well then I guess this Thanos feels this invasion's in the bag, because that thing is definitely getting closer!" Wasabi told them.

As he looked, Hiro saw his friend was right. The mothership definitely did appear larger than it had earlier when they saw it through the portal. He wasn't sure how big it really was or what armaments it carried, but he didn't want to wait to find out.

"Guess this is it, guys," Hiro told them in a brave voice even as he felt a shadow of the nervous tension from earlier returning, "now it's my turn."

Julian nodded in agreement, but Mr. Incredible looked at him in concern as he asked, "Are you sure that you want to do this alone? I can probably help."

Hiro shook his head no as he said, "You're not equipped to operate in the vacuum of space. I am, and Baymax is a robot, so he doesn't need to breathe, and I need him and his thrusters to take me and my microbots to take that alien ship out."

Baymax nodded as he confirmed, "Flying makes me a better healthcare companion."

Mr. Incredible nodded his understanding as he said, "Just take of yourselves out there."

Hiro nodded in return as he said, "And watch over our teams while I'm out."

Mr. Incredible nodded his understanding, then Julian grabbed him and slowly lowered them to the ground as the remaining microbots rose up to join Hiro. As the last of the microbots attached themselves to Baymax's arms in a black mass, Hiro told him, "Okay, let's go." Then Baymax flew towards the open wormhole.

A few of the Chitauri took potshots at them as they approached, but Baymax held the microbot shield in front of them, and so the blasts were harmlessly absorbed by the toughened devices and they were past in no time. One obstacle that was not so easy to get around was a Leviathan that was starting to emerge from the wormhole, but Hiro told Baymax to fly right at it as he sent a mental command to the microbots. As they entered its open maw, the microbots had reconfigured their formation into that of a giant drill that tore through the great beast's soft interior. Hiro lost track of how many disgusting, shattered parts flew past them (and thankfully Baymax didn't comment as to what they might have been) or how many surprised Chitauri faces they passed, but before long they burst through the other end and passed through the wormhole before the hollowed out Leviathan fell gracelessly to the ground below.

Despite the danger facing them and the fear of something happening to his friends while he was away, Hiro could not help but gasp in wonder at the sight around him. Though the force that still stood before him was huge, even that was just a speck compared to the vastness that surrounded them all. Hiro had seen the stars at night, of course, and he recalled being awed at how much clearer they had appeared the one time Aunt Cass had taken him and Tadashi to a cabin in the woods. However, here, free from any atmosphere whatsoever, they appeared even more brilliant and spectacular.

Then there was no more time for stargazing, as the Chitauri realized that what had passed through the wormhole was not one of theirs and they opened fire. Even through the microbot shield Hiro could feel the heat of the concentrated fire, though thankfully his creations were tough enough to take it as they recovered from being blasted off the front and rejoined him at the shield's base.

As they passed through, the Chitauri must have realized the threat Hiro posed as they altered course to follow them and continue their assault. As they were peppered with laser blasts unhindered by the microbot shield, Hiro hoped he had the chance to thank Julian for the improvements in their armor that thus far kept them free from harm. However, under this level of fire Hiro felt that it would not hold up forever, a fact Baymax confirmed in his analytical voice, "Hiro, I detect that our armor's integrity is down by 18%. Estimated time of failure: 4 minutes, 38 seconds."

"Keep going!" Hiro ordered him, "We have to get to that ship."

When they got closer to the ship, Hiro discovered that it had some impressive batteries of its own. Some of its blasts were even enough to punch holes through their shield, and even though most of the microbots recovered and rejoined them not all of them had. Thankfully Baymax's maneuvering kept them from being struck directly by the ships main guns, though the glancing blasts they got were still plenty harmful.

"Armor integrity has been reduced by 78%," Baymax announced, "Atmospheric breach estimated in 2 minutes, 10 seconds."

"We have to make it!" Hiro told him, "For our friends and everyone else back home!"

Once they were upon the ship itself, the remaining microbots reconfigured again into the giant drill formation, and Baymax drove it into the ship's side. Not content to let such an assault pass, the Chitauri concentrated all fire on the two heroes, and Hiro felt the heat of the blasts becoming painful.

"Armor integrity is now at critical levels," Baymax told him as they continued to bore through the ship, "Atmospheric breach is imminent."

"Almost….there…" Hiro grunted, urging him on as he struggled to hold on to consciousness. Then Hiro realized they must have struck some critical ship function as he heard a spark. Then a wall of flames rushed towards him, and everything went black.

* * *

><p>Back on Earth, the heroes who'd gathered together for this final stand looked up as the explosion of the mothership shone through the wormhole and lit up the night sky.<p>

"They did it!" Wasabi exclaimed, turning of his plasma blades and punching the air as the Chitauri collapsed all around them, "Hiro and Baymax did it!"

The citizens watching from their hiding places, as well as the law enforcement and most of the heroes all cheered at the announcement. And while GoGo also felt a sense of relief at this invasion's end she kept her eyes on the portal as the light of the explosion dimmed, asking aloud, "Wait, where's Hiro?"

GoGo's question sobered the heroes into silence, and the citizens followed suit as Mr. Incredible asked in concern, "They haven't made it back yet?"

GoGo's heart hammered at the thought Hiro might have been at the heart of that fireball, concerned about if even Hiro's armor would have been able to withstand it.

"Look! The wormhole's closing!" Honey Lemon's tense voice exclaimed. Indeed, GoGo saw that the aperture of the portal was getting smaller, and she began to fear that if Hiro and Baymax didn't come through now they never would.

"Come on, Hiro. You've got to make it back," GoGo whispered softly, almost as in a prayer, "You've got to!"

Then a small, black egg-shaped object shot through the portal before it closed completely, breaking apart as it did so to reveal the forms of Hiro and Baymax inside.

"Look, there they are!" Fred pointed out, and GoGo felt a sense of relief. As they continued to fall, however, that relief turned to dread as GoGo cried out, "They're not slowing down!"

"Honey!" Elastilass cried as she ran up to Mr. Incredible, who then grabbed her around the waist in one hand, then she put both hands straight over her head as he hurled her like a javelin. Before Hiro and Baymax could fall past the roofs of the nearest skyscrapers, Elastilass reached them and wrapped her elastic arms and legs around them, expanding her torso as she did so and becoming a living parachute. Even with Elastilass' help, however, they were still falling too fast, so Julian got beneath them and used his ability to generate a repelling electromagnetic field that slowed their descent even more, allowing them to settle safely to the ground.

GoGo's dread deepened when she saw that neither Hiro nor Baymax moved upon landing, and their cracked armor indicated they'd taken some serious damage. As she heard Frozone telling the gathered concerned crowd, "Please folks, back up! Give them some air!" GoGo gently disengaged him from Baymax's back and turned him over carefully. As she looked at his face, which looked as though he could be sleeping, GoGo whispered to him in a tremulous voice, "You did it, Hiro. You saved us all and made it back safely, so you can open your eyes now." When Hiro did not stir in her lap, GoGo's voice cracked as she said a little louder, "Come on now, you told us we'd all make it out of this thing fine, and the rest of us are okay, so now it's your turn." When Hiro still didn't respond she nearly screeched at him in her broken voice as tears streamed down her face, "DAMMIT! You _promised _us you'd make it back to us alive! You promised _me! _ Now you open your eyes _right __**now!**_"

GoGo heard the crackle of electricity behind her, and she turned her head and saw through her blurred vision that both of his hands were glowing with electricity as Julian told them, "Take off his armor."

Before the others could move to follow Julian's command, and before GoGo could bring herself to release Hiro to let them, Hiro suddenly lurched up from her lap and began to cough violently.

"Hiro?" GoGo whispered in a cautiously optimistic voice.

Once his coughing died down, Hiro croaked back, "I'm all right."

Suddenly GoGo didn't care who was watching. She embraced Hiro tightly from behind as her tears continued to flow. Thankfully she was spared a public display of affection as Honey Lemon quickly joined in their group hug, and the rest of their friends, both old and new, rubbed and patted whatever part of Hiro they could reach as the watching crowd exploded into cheers at this happy turnabout.

"The heck you are, Hiro Hamada," GoGo told him in a whisper the crowd couldn't possible hear over their own cheers, though her relief still showed in her voice and her smile, "I'm gonna make you pay for scaring me like that."

"Yeah, man. You gave us all a heart attack for a moment there!" Wasabi agreed.

As the others chuckled, GoGo heard the beeping sound she associated with Baymax's activation, then she saw the robot lurch upright and look around as he said, "Oh dear. It appears as though the shockwave from the ship's explosion had knocked me offline for a moment. Had I missed anything?"

Frozone chuckled as he said, "Only the salvation of the world as we know it."

Wasabi nodded in confirmation as he added, "And, judging by the sounds of those cheers, that today everyone is 'satisfied with their care'."

As GoGo saw the press crews start to arrive she helped Hiro to his feet, who grunted in pain as she did so, and Mr. Incredible told them, "Why don't you guys get on out of here? We'll handle the crowds and press for you today before we join you."

Hiro nodded in acceptance as GoGo helped him climb onto Baymax's back and Hiro commanded the surviving microbots to form a basket for his friends. Then Wasabi, Fred and Honey climbed in it while GoGo joined Hiro on Baymax's back, though she told the others she just wanted to make sure Hiro didn't fall off in his weakened condition, then Julian magnetically gathered the microbots that didn't respond to Hiro's command and they all took off, leaving the Incredibles and the cheering crowd behind.

* * *

><p>Hiro and his friend were hard at work cleaning up the lab (which looked as though World War III broke out here) as they heard the news broadcast say in the background, "And so, as a new day dawns, the world was saved through the heroic collaboration of the Incredibles and our local heroes, Big Hero 6. Though it was obviously a team effort, Mr. Incredible has confirmed that it was through the heroic actions and near-sacrifice of Big Hero 6's team leader Constructor that the mothership was destroyed and the invasion stopped for good. Because they needed to recover after the battle, Big Hero 6 was not available for comment, but I just want them all to know that we, the people of San Fransokyo as well as the rest of us the world over, owe them all a debt of gratitude. This is Iris Morgenstern from SFNN, signing off. Back to you, Bill."<p>

Hiro smiled, both at his new hero name and at the gratitude expressed by the reporter, but before he could talk to the others about it Abagail Callaghan came rushing through the door. Her worried expression turned to one of relief when she saw that all of them were here. "Thank goodness you're all right," Abagail told them all, focusing on Hiro as she said, "Your aunt and I were worried when none of you showed up at the shelter during the attacks, and she'd been trying to reach you all night. Then we saw those heroes using the robots you'd invented…"

"We're all right, really. We were stuck here when the invasion started," Hiro assured her, telling Abagail the story they'd carefully rehearsed, "It occurred to me that my microbots could help protect us from them, so I used our facilities to make them again, but before I could finish the aliens had broke in during the second invasion. If it wasn't for Big Hero 6 and the Incredibles I'm not sure what would have happened to us, and since they were going to fight the aliens anyway I just let them use my microbots to do so." Hiro then handed Abagail his broken phone as he added, "I'm afraid that cellular reception was down even before my phone got trashed, sorry."

Hiro smiled mentally as he recalled how much fun Fred had in fabricating the evidence as Honey Lemon altered the security footage to collaborate Hiro's story. Abigail then handed Hiro her own phone as she said, "Here, why don't you text your aunt and let her know you're okay, then the rest of you can take it easy. Consider this entire day a free period: I don't think that anyone will be wanting to come in for classes today anyway." As Hiro did as Abagail suggested, he saw her looking around at all of them, her eyes resting on the deactivated Baymax as she remarked, "You know, when he's resting in his charging station, Baymax kinda looks like a little brother of the robot that fights alongside Big Hero 6."

Hiro cringed mentally as he hastily improvised, "I suppose he does, but then again so does one robot I trashed during my early Battle Bot fighting days. Maybe the heroes are a fan of the fighting scene and took their inspiration from that."

"Maybe," Abagail conceded, then she sighed and smiled at Hiro as she said, "You know, perhaps one day when we have some free time, and are not facing imminent destruction, I could break out my old Battle Bot and see how it stacks up against yours. Just for kicks."

"Sounds like fun, Ms. Callaghan" Hiro told her truthfully, then he asked her, "Do you mind if I held onto this for a while, in case Aunt Cass calls back?"

"Of course. I'll get it back from you tomorrow," Abagail agreed, then she told them all, "You guys take care now, and I'll see you all in the morning."

Everyone returned her farewell, then when Abagail's footfalls receded down the hall and vanished, Hiro called out, "Okay, she's gone now."

There was a shimmer as Transparengirl deactivated her invisibility, and her family and friends (along with the hastily removed armor of Hiro and his friends) reappeared into view.

"That's a handy little trick you've got there," Hiro complimented her.

"Thanks," Transparengirl told him, "It took some practice, but I finally learned to incorporate my invisibility into my forcefield in order to let me vanish objects by touching them without them having to be made of a special material to do so."

"Still, you might want to look into making a hidden closet only you can access to hide your uniforms in," Mr. Incredible advised them, "The last thing you kids need is for another student to be looking for a tool and inadvertently stumble across your secret."

As they made preparations for the departure of their new friends, Hiro saw the gifts of appreciation his friends made for them. He saw Kid Lightning practicing with his new disk and magnetic wristband combo. He'd at first assumed that it was one of her old ones, until he noticed that this one was red with a yellow ring, which set it apart from any of hers and also matched the young hero's costume better.

"Now be sure to only use it on the bad guys, okay?" Hiro heard GoGo tell Kid Lightning, to which he'd responded, "I will! Thank you!"

Honey Lemon had made a plush toy for Jack-Jack that was practically indestructible, even when he pulled at it with super strength or he burst into flames, and the boy seemed pleased as punch with his new toy, which pleased his mother and sister in turn.

Wasabi had come up with a music player that can be hidden on Frozone's costume, is capable of withstanding extreme heat and cold, and can hold thousands of songs. Wasabi even had it loaded with some of his favorites, and it appeared that Frozone agreed with his taste in music.

As Hiro approached Mr. Incredible he told the famed hero, "I wish that there was something I could give you to thank you for helping us out there."

"Hey, it's nothing," Mr. Incredible assured him as his eyes scanned over the others, "Besides, you're the one who put everything on the line, even your own life, to ensure that we still had a world in which I can continue raising my family. I feel like I'm supposed to be the one thanking you."

"Still, I can't let you leave here empty handed," Hiro told him as he dug through drawers of old invention. After a moment he pulled out an old hand-held prototype of the communicator his team currently used and he handed it to Mr. Incredible as he said, "Here. Should you guys find yourselves in a jam and need a hand, give us a call."

Mr. Incredible nodded as he accepted it, then he reached into a hidden pocket on his uniform and held out a similar device to Hiro as he said, "Thanks. Same goes for you."

"Uh, Bob? It's the other one," Elastilass said as she walked up to them.

Mr. Incredible looked at the device in his hand in confusion for a moment, then he laughed in embarrassment as he pulled out a different boxy device and handed it to Hiro, saying, "Sorry about that. I was about to hand you the activator to the tracking devices embedded in our uniforms. I really ought to get Edna to take those out, or at least fix them so that they operate on silent. Those things really are a menace."

Hiro chuckled along with them, then once everyone was gathered he activated the cascading waterfall he'd set up in the middle of the lab (so that Julian didn't have to mangle any more faucets to create his portal).

"Are you sure we can't persuade you guys to stay a bit longer?" Hiro asked them.

"Thanks, but I really need to be getting back on my journey, and I promised to drop Mr. Incredible and his family off at home on the way there," Julian politely told them. As he spoke, Hiro noticed the gem set within a wristband Julian was wearing had begun to glow, and Julian smiled a wry smile as he added, "In fact, it seems my old friend Elsa is currently in need of some help, and from the feelings I'm reading from this it looks like I'll be facing quite the conflict when I get there."

"Well we don't have to go home right away, so we could come with you to help out," Mr. Incredible offered Julian.

"No, that's all right. It's not that kind of conflict," Julian declined, "It's more likely similar to the one you yourself faced when your wife came to rescue you from Syndrome, only to find that Mirage had already done so."

"Oh," Mr. Incredible said in realization, then he backed a step away as he continued, "You're probably right then. This situation is likely one you best handle yourself."

"Bob!" Elastilass said in protest as she hit Mr. Incredible in the arm, and he chuckled as he rubbed where she punched him. Then while Julian proceeded with activating the portal, Mr. Incredible turned towards Hiro and his friends and said, "Anyway, you kids are invited to come visit us in Metroville next month. We usually spend Christmas with our families, so instead the week before we always had a gathering of our close friends where we'd hang out and exchange gifts, and we'd love to have you there this year."

"Thanks. If we can, we will," Hiro told him gratefully, thinking he may have to invent a school ski trip for around then to tell Aunt Cass about.

"And Fred?" Mr. Incredible said as he and Frozone were about to follow the others into the portal, "Be sure to tell your dad Magnetron I said hi, and that he's invited this year too."

"Thanks, I will," Fred replied.

"What!?" Frozone exclaimed as he followed Mr. Incredible into the portal, "You're telling me that the whole time the kid's old man was…" Then as he passed through, the portal faded away, taking the sounds of the conversation with it.

Hiro and the others stared at Fred in shock for a few moments before GoGo broke the silence, saying, "Your dad knew Mr. Incredible personally?"

"Yeah, they both fought crime back in the old days, and they would occasionally team up when a situation needed it," Fred told them, as if it was no big deal.

"And you were planning to tell us about this when?" Hiro asked him.

"Hey, I recently found out myself when I stumbled upon his old lair hidden within the mansion," Fred defended himself smilingly, "Dad's been catching me up with his old pre-superhero relocation exploits since he found me in there after we stopped Professor Callaghan."

"Man, just when I thought I'd stopped being surprised by you…" Wasabi told Fred as he led him away with an arm around his shoulders. As Honey Lemon wandered off to look for a tool with which to make adjustments to her chem-bag, Hiro saw that GoGo was still standing there, looking decidedly uncomfortable. Before Hiro could ask her what was bothering her, GoGo asked him in an uncertain voice, "So….Hiro, that offer you made about going to see a movie: is it too late to accept instead?"

GoGo's words rooted Hiro in place out of shock. Before he could decide if he was still asleep or actually dead, a shadow of the old GoGo showed itself again as she pointed in his direction as she continued, "Now keep in mind that this is not a date, but after a day like yesterday a movie would be the perfect way to unwind. As friends, of course."

Hiro, still uncertain in his shock as to whether this was real or not, asked her, "Would the theatre still be opening today?"

"It should. We'd kept the fighting pretty far from that area, but even if it wasn't we could at least rent something," GoGo told him as she shifted from foot to foot, then she pointed in his face again as she added, "No sci-fi though!"

Hiro laughed in sympathy as he agreed, "Yeah, I think we've seen enough scary aliens for a while. How about that new comedy that just opened, the one about a pair of idiots who go on a road trip to find a daughter one of them apparently fathered years ago?"

"Yeah, sounds like fun," GoGo agreed with a smile.

Hiro smiled back, then he called out to the others, "How about you guys? You want to go?"

"Yeah man! Sounds great!" Wasabi told him, gripping Honey Lemon's hand as he did so, and Hiro saw Honey blush a deep crimson when that happened.

"Me too?" Fred asked them.

"Of course," Wasabi acknowledged, "You'll be buying the snacks."

As Hiro felt the warmth of the friendship in the room, he was surprised as GoGo gripped his hand in a very non-platonic way. Looking back and forth in confusion between her face and their entwined hands, Hiro asked in confirmation, " 'Not a date'?"

GoGo gave Hiro a curious smile as she answered, "Not today."

Hiro's heart felt ten times lighter then as he picked up Ms. Callaghan's phone to clear his afternoon plans with his aunt. Maybe GoGo wasn't comfortable with the idea of "dating" him now, but if the smile she'd given him was any indication, then perhaps when the age difference between them wasn't so great she'd have a different answer for him. For that, Hiro was willing to wait for as long as it takes.

* * *

><p>On a rock floating in the void of space, an alien being kneeled and trembled before a larger one seated in a throne that looked as if it grew out of the asteroid's surface. As the throne's occupant glared down at the subjugant, his voice echoed around the space ominously as he said, "You told me that this world would be easy to conquer, and we could exact my revenge on the Avengers from there. Now I've lost a good deal of my forces due to your incompetence!"<p>

"Forgive me, my lord, but that world seemed ideal for your needs, as their heroes were scattered and disorganized, and there was no Avengers there to stand in your way," the alien defended himself fearfully, "I really had no idea of the existence of this Julian, of that he'd be able to rally them to…"

The alien never got to finish what he was going to say, as Thanos' eyes flashed and the alien vaporized before another sound could come from his mouth. Then Thanos called out a name unutterable by human tongue, and as another masked alien similar to the one who just died responded, Thanos told him, "I'm now putting you in charge of finding a solution to the Avengers problem."

"It'll be my honor, my Lord," the alien responded with fealty.

"However, should you fail me as well, I will not be as merciful with you as I was with your predecessor," Thanos warned him.

"As always, my life is yours to do with as you will, Lord Thanos," the alien agreed with a bow before he departed. Once he was alone again, Thanos looked from the Infinity Gem, which was set once more within one of the six empty slots on the gauntlet he wore, to the microbot he held between the thumb and forefinger of his other hand. Despite his anger at being thwarted by a hero who was still more a boy than a man, he had to marvel at the youth's ingenuity. Who knew that something so small could actually be so dangerous?

As his eyes flared once again, the microbot joined the alien in oblivion, and Thanos swore that once he'd finished his business with the Avengers he'd return to this world, and when he did he'd show these heroes that Thanos was not someone you crossed and lived.

_Julian will appear again in "Drago's Revenge"_

* * *

><p><span><em>Foreword:<em>

I would like to take a moment to thank those who supported and encouraged me to continue writing this piece, as I had a lot of fun writing it (even if work did not give me a lot of free time to do so). Additionally, I had read how in some author's blogs and personal websites how they'd show the playlist of songs they'd listened to when working on a certain title. While it might not be very useful or interesting to the common reader, to those who are authoring stories themselves that information could be very handy, especially when they're experiencing a writers block cause a good tune can get the mental juices flowing again. So, without further ado, here is the playlist I utilized while writing this story. It's in no particular order (I usually have it on random play anyway) and there are songs I've also listened to that aren't included here, but these are the ones I listened to the most:

1.) _Live and Learn _by Crush 40 (Good action oriented song, sounds appropriately heroic in tone)

2.) _Sugar Rush _by AKB48 (great energy, plus the mixture of Japanese and English lyrics really feel like it fits the tone of the San Fransokyo setting of this story)

3.)_ Save World, Get Girl _by I Fight Dragons (fun song with great energy, plus as you can tell by the title it's appropriately heroic in tone)

4.)_ The Geeks Will Inherit the Earth_ by I Fight Dragons (obviously because Big Hero 6 is entirely made up of them, and this is a fun and energized song)

5.) _Let's See How Far We've Come_ by Matchbox 20 (sets the tone of people who are facing their end of days, yet are unwilling to lie down and take it, and its energized tone is good for action pieces)

6.) _Maze of Life _by Yumi Kawamura and Shihoko Hirata, composed by Soji Meguro (just because it's an awesome and energetic song)

and finally...

7.) _Immortals _by Fall Out Boy (for obvious reasons)

Hope you've enjoyed this story, and now I need to work on some of my other tales. Keep on writing, everyone.


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